The 葫芦影业鈥檚 Chem-E Car Team is heading to Boston this fall after earning second place at the AIChE Southwest Regional Conference hosted by Tecnol贸gico de Monterrey. This result qualified them for the , where top teams from across the country will showcase innovative, student-built cars powered by chemical reactions.
The Chem-E Car competition challenges teams to combine engineering, chemistry, and creativity to build a small car that runs on chemical power and stops using a precisely timed reaction. For UH鈥檚 team, this year鈥檚 journey marks a major comeback.
鈥淭he team itself hasn鈥檛 competed in many years,鈥� said Cesar Gonzalez, a sophomore chemical engineering student and team lead. 鈥淪o just being able to go out and compete was a big deal鈥攁nd of course, being invited to nationals was quite the accomplishment.鈥�
The team鈥檚 performance is the result of nearly 200 hours of hands-on experimentation, trial and error, and collaboration. Their car鈥檚 reliability and precision impressed judges and earned them a podium finish, just one centimeter behind first place.
However, the road to regionals wasn鈥檛 smooth. 鈥淔or a long time, our batteries weren鈥檛 producing the power we needed,鈥� said team captain and sophomore electrical engineering student Evan Castillo. 鈥淯p until February, we weren鈥檛 even sure if we鈥檇 be able to compete at all.鈥�
Travel logistics also posed a challenge. 鈥淕etting the team to Monterrey was an enormous struggle,鈥� Castillo said. 鈥淲e couldn鈥檛 get sponsorship for international travel, so I had to work with the Learning Abroad program for several weeks鈥e didn鈥檛 find out we were going to make it until the Monday before the contest. We had a couple of all-nighters and somehow pulled everything together to make it.鈥�
Despite the challenges, the Chem-E Car team showed up. Now, with nationals on the horizon in November, the team is focused on fine-tuning their design.
鈥淭he car from regionals had issues with the batteries, but we鈥檝e made a lot of progress,鈥� Gonzalez said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e also looking at new reactions and preparing for next year鈥檚 regionals. We鈥檙e all super excited to see how the car performs.鈥�
Castillo echoed that excitement. 鈥淲e want to get more people from different disciplines involved next semester. New insights and perspectives can really strengthen the team, and we鈥檙e excited to keep growing.鈥�
Stay tuned as these incredible students gear up to represent the 葫芦影业 on the national stage!