Sunseeker team seeking a top spot in next summer’s solar race

The Sunseeker team is preparing WMU’s solar- powered racecar for the 2005 cross-country race, now called the North American Solar Challenge

This year’s entry is a modified version of the Sunseeker 03, which placed 5th in a field of 20 vehicles in the 2003 American Solar Challenge and won the EDS Gold Award for Best Solar Car Design. The 2,500- mile race, takes place in both the US and Canada. At least 41 teams - US, Canadian, & international – are interested in competing.

The race starts in Austin, Texas, on July 17 and ends July 27 in Calgary, Alberta. The route generally follows US-75 North to Winnipeg, Manitoba, and then heads West on Canadian Highway 1 to Calgary.

Between Austin and Calgary, stops and checkpoints are planned for Weatherford, Texas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Topeka, Kansas; Omaha, Nebraska; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Brandon, Manitoba; Regina, Saskatchewan; and Medicine Hat, Alberta,

A pre-qualifying event is set for May 15 through 20 in Topeka, Kansas, to inspect and test entries from North America.

Cars that qualify at this event will be allowed to drive laps on a 2.1 mile closed track to prove roadworthiness and to earn a starting position for the July race. During the week of July 10, a final qualifier will be open to all international entries and cars that failed to qualify in May.

The WMU Sunseeker race team will leave Kalamazoo on July 6 for Austin, Texas, and return from Calgary on August 1.

According to Abe Poot, a project advisor, a number of changes are in the works. The car is getting a new 25 Kg 150 Volt Lithium-Polymer battery pack and a state-of-the-art battery protection system. The motors are being rewired to run at higher voltage and lower current.

Improvements are planned for the rear trailing arm suspension, ventilation system, and leading edge aerodynamics. A new canopy design offers clearer bubble and better tinting.

Additions to the car include a new rear vision camera and LCD display and a Global Positioning System for improved navigation

The team plans to complete the modifications by the end of March to get it on the road for testing. In April it will be displayed at the SAE Congress at Cobo Hall.

Expenses of the Sunseeker Project are being funded by private donations accumulated over the past several years. The projected budget shows this fund will fall short of meeting all of the race expenses.

Additional contributions are welcome and, to be tax deductible, can be made through the WMU Foundation. See the Sunseeker web site at http://www.wmich.edu/sunseeker and select the donate bar for more information. Other ways of supporting the team would be to sponsor specific needs such as the cost of uniforms, leasing support vehicles, leasing cell phone communications, the race registration fee, and food and lodging expenses.

For more information about how you can help the team, call the team advisor, Abraham Poot at 269-276-3372 or contact him via email at mailto:abraham.poot@wmich.edu.

IME professor pens history of CEAS

IME Professor Thomas Swartz, a master faculty specialist, has published Building on a Solid Foundation: A History of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Western Michigan University – 1903-2003. The 108-page, hardcover book, which includes a poster featuring a timeline of the last 100 years, was published late last year.

The book begins with an overview of Western’s engineering program in the last century and traces the original program as its emphasis evolved from teacher training to industrial training, its focus changing to meet the industrial needs of two world wars and a rapidly growing technological society.

The engineering program began in 1904 when Western State Normal School opened its doors with courses in the Department of Manual Training, a program to train teachers in the industrial arts.

Swartz devotes chapters to the buildings and facilities that housed the college and its programs, the people who shaped the college, and the programs they developed.

The book concludes with a description of the present programs of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and its move to the new Parkview Campus in late summer 2003.

According to Swartz the book project began in October 2000 with a 15-minute conversation he had with Michael Atkins, the present CEAS dean who was then chair of the IME department. At the time both the WMU Centennial and the construction of the Parkview Campus were in the planning stage.

At that meeting Swartz and Atkins discussed the importance of emeriti faculty and the value of collecting their stories and recollections. In the Author’s Note, Swartz writes, “At the conclusion of our discussion, Dr. Atkins requested that I lead an effort to compile a history of the CEAS at WMU. I gladly accepted his charge.”

In the last three years, Swartz, who presently coordinates and teaches technical communication and report writing courses, spent much of his free time working on the history project. He met with emeriti faculty and administrators and WMU archivists and spent hours researching, organizing, and developing a system for saving pictorial records.

At the same time he was devoting most of his time to the writing project, he also helped coordinate an East Campus trolley restoration senior design project.

Tom Swartz

This is Swartz’s first book, but he has other literary connections. He served three years as managing editor of the literary arts magazine New Blood. He is presently the treasurer of Kalamazoo Friends of Poetry, and he has also served as the group’s president.

Swartz joined the IME program in 1988 as an adjunct faculty. He was hired full time in 1999. His education includes a BA in English at WMU, a MA in English at Pittsburg State University, Kansas, and PhD coursework at the University of Colorado.

Presently Swartz’s family members are all WMU students. His wife, Elizabeth Kerlikowske, a tenured Kellogg Community College faculty member, is completing her PhD in English – Creative Writing. Daughter Rose is pursuing a BA in English and a BFA in photography, and son Nick, in his first year at WMU, hasn’t selected a major.

The book is available for purchase by check or money order for $29.95. For additional information or to order a book, please contact Cathy Smith at 269-276-3253 or cathleen.smith@wmich.edu.

Two IME professors join the WMU 25-Year Club

For serving Western Michigan University for more than a quarter of a century, IME professors Fred Sitkins and Dr. Kailash Bafna were recently inducted into the WMU’s 25-Year Club. Each received dinner, a framed certificate, and a gold watch.

Fred Sitkins

If years as a WMU undergraduate student were added in, Sitkins has spent nearly 30 years at WMU. Being able to teach at his alma mater is a “privilege,” he said. “I shall always be a Bronco.”

Sitkins came to WMU in 1979 on a two-year temporary appointment that became tenure-track later that year. In 1984, he joined the newly formed Engineering Technology department, which later merged with industrial engineering to become IME. He became a full professor in 1998.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Sitkins has been an active participant in the WMU community. For several years he served as advisor to the Sunseeker project and to the SME student chapter. He assisted many senior design projects including the one that built a replica of the WMU East Campus trolley for the 2003 Centennial. He also participates in the Mike Gary athletic fundraiser.

“You get the personal satisfaction associated with these kinds of activities by doing them because you want to rather than because you have to,” Sitkins said. “There is much to be said for giving back and the endless rewards gained from it.”

Sitkins has taught vocational education at three Michigan secondary ed programs, Henry Ford Community College, and Ford Motor Company. He also owned and operated Sitco Manufacturing, a stamping and fabricating facility, for seven years.

In addition to his BA from WMU, Sitkins earned a MS from Eastern Michigan University. He is also certified as a manufacturing engineer in both manufacturing management and robotics and as a motion control and technical sales specialist.

Sitkins and his wife, Christine, have seven children and 11-going-on-13 grandchildren.

Bafna has been part of what is now the IME department for 24 years. He has served as associate professor, professor, and department chair. For one year, he was an assistant dean for the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

“Working at WMU has provided me with extreme flexibility in how I conduct my classes to make an enriching learning experience,” he said. “It has also provided me with the opportunity to serve my profession internationally.”

Kailash Bafna

Before coming to WMU, Bafna was an assistant professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and an associate professor at University of Wisconsin, Platteville. He has also worked in industry.

Bafna earned a BS in mechanical engineering at Banaras Hindu University, a MS in production management from University of Mississippi, and a PhD in industrial engineering from Purdue University. He and his wife, Vimla, have two children and two grandchildren.

The 25-Year club was founded in 1982 with 98 members. It now has 393 active members and 480 retired members.

Among those active club members are several other IME faculty, staff, and administrators, including Jim VanDePolder, who began teaching in WMU’s Transportation Technology Department in 1966. In his nearly 40 years at WMU, he says that every time he meets a former student, “it’s a great day.”