A mechanical engineering design team from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock recently secured a first-place win at the Student Professional Development Conference.

Eighteen teams competed in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers event held April 4-6 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.

Following the first-place award, UALR team members Owen Camp, Clint Maddox, David Ramirez, and Dale Wilson received an invitation to compete at the international level later this year.

UALR was the only team from Arkansas to compete with other university teams that included Texas Tech University (second place), New Mexico State University (third place), Louisiana Tech University, University of Tulsa, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Texas A&M-Kingsville, and others.

“These motivated students brainstormed ideas, conceptualized the design and built the device, tested and solved all of its technical problems, and then successfully tested the end product,” said Dr. Srikanth Pidugu of the UALR Department of Engineering Technology.

Also participating in the events were UALR students Daniel Blackstock and Tony Lea. All of the students are pursuing Bachelor of Science degrees in mechanical engineering technology.

Maddox was also part of last year’s team, which won the design competition and went on to compete at ASME’s International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition in San Diego in November. That team placed ninth out of 25 teams who competed from universities from around the world.

“It should be noted that the design problem is different year to year,” said Pidugu.

This year’s challenge for each team was to design a small unmanned air vehicle to carry cargo through two gates, drop a payload, and return to the starting point.

The 2014 international expo will be held Nov. 14-20 in Montreal and comes with a $1,200 travel allowance.

To learn more about the engineering technology discipline, go to Department of Engineering Technology.

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