Rev Up Auburn's Chemical Engineering Car Team

Designing a car that runs and stops entirely through a chemical reaction is no easy task. But, every year, Auburn's Chemical Engineering Car Team does just that.

The team, a student-run organization in Auburn's chapter of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), is designing a car to compete in the annual regional Chem-E Car Competition.

Teams are required to make a significant design change to their cars each year. And the change Auburn's team is taking on this year involves redesigning the entire chassis of the car, as well as researching new reactions to power it.

Your support will help make this possible. Materials needed to produce these changes can be very expensive. Tiger Giving Day gifts will go directly toward covering costs to redesign the car chassis and research new power sources. The team also always looks for ways to improve safety, so they are planning to purchase new safety equipment including lab coats, gloves, and safety glasses.

At the day of the competition, the team is given a mass that the car must carry and a specific distance the car must carry the mass. Prior to the day of competition, the team is unaware of what the mass and the distance will be. So, in order to travel the correct distance, the car must be controlled by changing the amount of each chemical put into the reactions. At the end, whichever team comes closest to the given distance wins and the top teams qualify to compete on an international level.

These students are the embodiment of the Auburn Creed, exercising and believing in hard work, education and the human touch. Your support of our goal and investment in our students guarantees that they will have every opportunity to reap the reward of professional experiences as they continue to change the world.

If you are an Auburn Engineering graduate, your gifts will count toward the SEC Engineering Challenge. From now until June 30, 2019, your gift of $100 or more will count toward Auburn’s standing in the SEC Engineering Challenge. The school with the highest percentage of alumni responding will win the SEC Engineering Challenge.