The School of Mines Aero Design Team placed third at the Aero Design West remote-controlled airplane competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
The team also received trophies for the best design report and most payload. The School of Mines took first place overall at the 2005 and 2006 competitions.
The Aero Design Competition challenges engineering students to conceive, design, fabricate and test a radio-controlled aircraft that can take off and land while carrying the maximum cargo. This gives students the opportunity to apply the knowledge learned in the classroom on a practical problem. For more information, visit http://students.sae.org/competitions/aerodesign/west/.
Competition teams such as Aero Design fall under CAMP, a School of Mines program that uses teams to offer an innovative engineering and science education and teach team-building and other skills students need and future employers want.
The students competing: Camdon Depaolo (mechanical engineering, Casper, Wyo.), Sara Hagie (mechanical engineering, Rapid City), Eric Husman (engineering, Gardena, Calif.), Adam Lungren (mechanical engineering, Gillette, Wyo.), Megan Mallett (electrical engineering, Fargo, N.D.), Lyndsey Penfield (mechanical engineering, Olds, Iowa), Ray Tapper (mechanical engineering, Rapid City), Jimmy Tomich (metallurgical engineering, Farson, Wyo.), Steve Schnabel (mechanical engineering, Rapid City), Nick Swanson (mechanical engineering, Chaska, Minn.), Chris Vickery (mechanical engineering, Luvurne, Minn.), and Blake Woodward (mechanical engineering, Rapid City).