Student Roles
Maeve Harris is a second year Civil and Environmental Engineering student. As our Project Lead, she will be responsible for ensuring the project moves along according to our timeline and budget. She has also been the lead on communicating with officials on campus, in order to attain project location approval. Maeve is excited to apply her classroom engineering experience to the design and construction of our solar powered charging station.
Brian Bednarski will be completing his Electrical Engineering degree in the spring. He has experience designing and building solar powered electric car charging stations. His previous experience makes him a valuable asset to the team as we design and protocol the electrical system.
Connor Kafka is a second year electrical engineering student. He was recently the lead on designing the electrical system for a solar powered kiln, which is located on campus. Connor will be contributing to the design and construction of the electrical system.
Mike Barsamian is in the final stages of completing his Mechanical Engineering degree. He will be assisting with the design and construction of the solar powered charging stations.
Chester Pham is a third year Chemical Engineering major. Last year he was the treasurer of the UW Engineers Without Borders chapter, and this year is our Vice President. This makes him more than qualified to be our Logistics Manager. As Logistics Manager, Chester will be responsible for purchasing materials, and keeping our budget on track.
Brittany Lydon is a senior in Mechanical Engineering. With her mechanical engineering background, she can help with design and construction of the charging stations. Brittany will also be in charge of Education and Outreach. She is enthusiastic about involving the entire UW campus through education and outreach.
Espen Scheuer is a first year student. His intended major is Material Science and Engineering. Espen is very interested in solar panels, and has become the lead during our research stage. He has been researching solar panel design and construction and relaying that information to the team as we enter the design phase.
Emily Rosenfield is a first year, undeclared, student. She will be assisting Brittany Lydon with the Education and Outreach aspect of this project, as well as helping to complete general team tasks.
Abby Snyder is a first year student. Her intended major is industrial engineering. Abby will be assisting Brittany and Emily on the Education and Outreach Team. Abby will also be the safety officer, making sure each student uses equipment safely and effectively. She will complete a safety talk before construction of the stations begins.
Tyler Petrie is a first year student. She is intending to major in electrical engineering and will be assisting to design the electrical system. Tyler also works for The Daily and will be a major contact between our project and the newspaper.
As necessary, we will recruit student engineers from outside of the club to assist with design and construction. We would likely do this by emailing professors and visiting the classrooms of upper level engineering courses in order to find students who would be interested in working on this project.
Sub Teams
The Electrical Team will be responsible for designing and building the electrical system of the solar powered charging station. They will be doing work necessary circuit work to have them running smoothly. This work can be completed in the Electrical Engineering Building.
The Mechanical and Civil Team will focus on overall design and construction. They will be working on the energy tree, and solar panels to make sure all the parts of the design fit together in a functional and efficient way. This team will also be in charge of all the weatherproofing and casing of the system.
The Education and Outreach Team will be in charge of communicating with the UW campus. They will put together surveys to be completed by UW students and faculty in order to identify preferred charging locations. Also, they will be in charge of any events or social media promotions that are done to raise awareness about this project. This team will design an educational poster to have on the completed charging station so that students can read about sustainability while their phones charge.
The Task Force Team is responsible for keeping all members of this project accountable and to make sure the project proceeds according to schedule.
An Analysis Team will be needed to record data on the amount of phones charged and electricity saved. They will also be in charge of monitoring the condition of our stations, making upgrades and replacing parts as needed.
Volunteer Opportunities
All of the students participating in this project are volunteering their time. Students will be donating about three to five hours a week to this project through group meetings and design work. This project provides a valuable opportunity for students to volunteer and gain engineering experience. We are also currently accepting additional members to the club to work on the project and are open to any interested volunteers.
Conclusion
While everyone involved in this project has different engineering interests, it is a collaborative environment that gives students a fantastic opportunity to gain experience across a wide range of engineering fields. The students will also gain valuable collaborative skills to prepare them for the engineering workforce.