Students Exhibit Their Drive for Innovation in Upcoming Tech Expo

Seniors from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Applied Science are on the fast track when it comes to eye-catching ingenuity. They’ve spent the past academic year designing and building a long list of inventive prototype products and will exhibit their efforts during “Tech Expo 2006” from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday, May 19, at Cinergy Center (the convention center) downtown. The show is free and open to the public.

Leading the field of unusual and entertaining inventions on display is a

Formula race car

built by a core group of four seniors and a few other volunteers. The vehicle has already completed two regional races sponsored by the Sports Car Club of America and will be featured in more after Tech Expo.

Mechanical engineering technology senior Matt Pucke led the group designing the car and did so for very practical reasons. “This car is way faster than anything I could ever afford to buy. A Dodge Viper would cost me $80,000. This car is a poor man’s Viper.”

Other team members working on this project are fellow mechanical engineering technology seniors Scott Dunsford, Geoff Neundorfer and Josh Pocock along with help from junior Jose Buono.

While Pucke was motivated by his love of cars and speed, Dunsford joined in on the project because he wanted to a big-gauge project to cap his senior year. Said Dunsford, “This is the keystone project of my academic career. It’s something we’ve been working toward for four years. I didn’t want a small, throw-away project. I wanted something both impressive and fun. I want to drive it around, show it off, race it…basically take pride in what I’ve done.”

The 900-pound vehicle measures about ten feet long and more than four feet high, and the students worked on it seven days a week for months. They received valuable help from various employers around town, especially their cooperative education employers. (Co-op is the practice, founded at UC in 1906, in which students alternate academic quarters in the classroom with paid, professional work directly related to their majors.)

And thanks to their co-op employers and other sponsors, the students had the best facilities to create all the parts necessary for their project. Stated Pucke, “Basically, my co-op employer, General Tool Co., said I could mill any of the parts I needed for this project whenever I wanted to at their facilities so long as I didn’t bump any of their projects off the schedule.”

Sponsors for the project include General Tool Company; EMJ Metals; ThreeTwenty Media; IDM Computer Solutions, Inc.; Positrol Workholding; Cummins Inc.; A&P Technologies; Quaife America; United Auto Workers; General Motors, Inc.; and Campus Management, Ltd.