Human powered vehicles created by mechanical engineering students in the Coleman Coliseum parking lot:

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Like to ride bicycles? What about human powered vehicles? At first, they might appear to be a different version of the bicycle, and two mechanical engineering student teams from The University of Alabama will test their vehicles in the American Society of Mechanical Engineering East Coast Human Powered Vehicle Challenge on May 7-9 in Gainesville, Fla.

After a local competition in the Coleman Coliseum parking lot, the two teams were selected to attend the ASME competition by UA mechanical engineering faculty. At the competition, the teams will give a short presentation to the judges and drive the vehicles in the 10 kilometer Utility Endurance event to be held on the University of Florida campus. The overall scoring for the competition is based on the design presentation, design reports and the endurance event outcome.

“These students have worked extremely hard to produce the human powered vehicles, and I know they have enjoyed creating their own devices for this competition,” said Dr. Steve Shepard, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

So what is a human powered vehicle? It is an aerodynamic, highly-engineered vehicle that can carry the driver and a small container of cargo, such as a 12-pack of soda cans. For safety reasons, the vehicle must be able to stop in a distance of 20 feet from a speed of 15 mph, provide roll-over protection and make sharp turns.

The students involved in the competition include:

• Matt Blackwood – senior from Homewood
• Ashley Erickson – senior from Tuscaloosa
• David Hovater – senior from Russellville
• Elizabeth Jannik – senior from Hattiesburg, Miss.
• Anisa Jones – senior from Enterprise
• Raymond Kyle – senior from Lilburn, Ga.
• Hank Porter – senior from New Iberia, La.
• Robert Shown – senior from Madison

In 1837, UA became the first university in the state to offer engineering classes and was one of the first five in the nation to do so. Today, the College of Engineering, with about 1,900 students and more than 95 faculty, is one of the three oldest continuously operating engineering programs in the country and has been fully accredited since accreditation standards were implemented in the 1930s.