Open house for the College of Engineering last night in the Engineering building. Great attendance last night! Our poster/video setup looked great!

 The body plug is coming along! The team has been working diligently so they can meet the lofty goals they have set!

 The new chromoly hollow axle.  A big weight savings over last years solid steel axle.  The axle is also shorter this year with the transmission change for additional rotating mass weight saving! We are rolling!

The drivetrain is coming along.  Still quite a bit to do but we are rolling along!

Our recent publication in Energy and Fuels looks like it is gaining some traction and time on the blogs!
Check some of these links out!

http://www.evdriven.com/comparison/energy/exhaust/

http://finance.yahoo.com/mbview/threadview/?&bn=06bd2df0-534a-330a-bee6-a006a5dfd218&tid=1354299778552-3eef355c-9aca-4f71-a889-856ba09f0bf1&tls=la%2Cd%2C11

http://www.stockhouse.com/bullboards/messagedetail.aspx?s=XOM&t=NYSE&m=31849366&l=0&pd=1&r=0

http://politicalecology.xyvy.info/biodiesel-from-microalgae-yeast-and-bacteria-engine-performance-and-exhaust-emissions/

http://fis.com/fis/worldnews/search_brief.asp?monthyear=11-2012&day=29&country=234&df=1&l=e&special

http://politicalecology.xyvy.info/biodiesel-from-microalgae-yeast-and-bacteria-engine-performance-and-exhaust-emissions/

http://envnewsbits.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/study-finds-biodiesel-from-algae-yeast-and-bacteria-can-displace-both-petroleum-diesel-and-soybean-biodiesel/

http://www.greencarcongress.com/algal_fuels/

http://ccresaquaponics.wordpress.com/2012/10/27/ccres-algae-team-2/

http://himafarin.lk.ipb.ac.id/algae-yeast-and-bacteria-derived-biodiesel-great-alternative/

http://www.chemeurope.com/en/publications/494302/biodiesel-from-microalgae-yeast-and-bacteria-engine-performance-and-exhaust-emissions.html

http://www.greenoptimistic.com/2012/11/28/microbial-biodiesel-can-displace-both-soybean-and-petroleum-based-diesels-study-says/#.URx8xxG9KK0

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2012/12/03/dupont-breaks-ground-on-commercial-biofuel-facility/

http://advancedbiofuelsusa.info/study-finds-biodiesel-from-algae-yeast-and-bacteria-can-displace-both-petroleum-diesel-and-soybean-biodiesel

http://envnewsbits.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/study-finds-biodiesel-from-algae-yeast-and-bacteria-can-displace-both-petroleum-diesel-and-soybean-biodiesel/

http://rfflibrary.wordpress.com/2012/12/17/biodiesel-from-microalgae-yeast-and-bacteria-engine-performance/

http://www.algaeindustrymagazine.com/usu-study-shows-algae-beats-soybean-for-biodiesel/

http://algaebiodiesel.com/algae-yeast-and-bacteria-derived-biodiesel-great-alternative

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2012/11/wahlen-20121123.html

Build Semester Updates

The teams have been working hard to keep the car going forward as we zip along through the semester.

BAER Welding has come on board and have sponsored us with aluminum for the drivetrain.  They have been awesome to work with! Thanks you guys!

 The new ceramic bearings for the rear axle are absolutely awesome.  Even with no weight on the axles right now they spin super freely and keep spinning.  Huge advantage over the previous bearings, one of those bearings from the original setup ended up actually failing, luckily it wasn't enough to stop us but looks to have been a factor in us just missing resetting the record at the World Finals event where we weren't able to overcome the wind and back up our previous record breaking run.  We missed by a hair so we are going all out to make sure that the little things won't add up to hold us back!  Looking forward to the World of Speed event in September!

USU goes to NBB Conference in Las Vegas

From Monday through Thursday of last week USU was well represented by three of its students and one faculty member.  Graduate students Robert Willis and Alex McCurdy and undergraduate Mike Morgan from the Biochemistry department each received scholarships from the NBB to attend the conference and present posters on their research. (Shown below, Robert Willis, Mike Morgan, and Alex McCurdy)

 We will upload their posters in the future so you can check out what's going on at USU!

The team was extremely well received in their presentations and the three posters together allowed for people to understand the research at USU and where we are headed.  The conference was a great networking opportunity with collaborators in research and industry interest.  Quite a bit to follow up on! The conference was extremely well attended and included sessions in which the US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan spoke to the group about where biodiesel has been and where it is headed.

USU was also represented by Dr. Dallas Hanks from the USU Extension Center for Agronomic and Woody Biofuels.  He is an Ambassador to the NBB and spent time with the Next Generation Scientists for Biodiesel which gave the scholarships to the 3 students.

The conference was an awesome opportunity and Alex and Mike look forward to possibly attending next year in San Diego.