The Materials Science and Engineering Department won the Alumni Cup at the University of Maryland, College Park. This annual engineering competition, started in 2012, challenges each department in the engineering school in a one week contest to develop a machine that will perform a specific task within certain parameters. This year, the challenge was to design a Rube Goldberg machine that could successfully complete, in a minimum of 20 steps, moving a pencil two feet into a sharpener and then removing it after ten seconds. The pencil must be capable of writing.
Luke Bittner, president of the Material Advantage Chapter and team captain says, “Alumni Cup is the premier competition between majors in the Clark School of Engineering. It feels incredible to win first place this year! I know it was only possible through the unparalleled dedication of not just the Materials Engineering team, but everyone who supported us. This win grants us bragging rights as the ‘best engineers’ at the University of Maryland, and we’ve certainly earned that distinction.”
Josh Eng-Morris, incoming president of the Material Advantage Chapter at the University of Maryland, described their winning machine: “We came up with a lot of creative ways to incorporate materials science into our design. We included a magnet dropping down a copper pipe to demonstrate how the magnet will fall very slowly due to Lenz’s Law. We also included a solar cell that was activated when a nearby light bulb turned on, and was able to power a servo motor. We also included a 3D printer, water repellent fabric, and representations of electron energy levels, carbon nanotubes, a Charpy hardness test, an electron gun, and quantum tunneling. To finish off our machine, we completed a circuit using liquid Gallium which powered our pencil sharpening device controlled by an Arduino micro-controller. In the competition we were one of only two teams to have a full successful run, and we were the only team whose pencil sharpening device was able to work reliably in all three runs.” The judges, remarking on the final run of the machine, described it as “flawless.”
Teams were judged on the machine’s effectiveness in completing the task within the given parameters, a demonstration of the design and how it pertains to the team’s respective discipline, an oral presentation including rough sketches in correlation to the design, and team spirit. The panel of judges was made up of five people from the Clark School of Engineering administration and the Alumni Association.
Previously, the department had only placed once before (third place honors). Eng-Morris, reflecting on their win, said, “We were definitely considered one of the biggest underdogs since we are a small major and do not have the same man power as the bigger majors, like civil or mechanical, who have won the past three years. Our hard work really paid off this year though, and we were able to show everyone what material engineers are truly capable of. It was an extremely proud moment for everyone involved, and a huge win for the department. We hope to keep winning, or at least placing, for years to come.”
The team included:
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Captain- Luke Bittner- Senior
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Omar Abdullah- Senior
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Drew Stasak- Senior
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Sabrina Curtis- Junior
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Josh Eng-Morris- Junior
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Patrick Ayerle- Sophomore
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Alan Kaplan- Sophomore
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Kailey Stracka- Sophomore
