Engineers' Forum April 2020

Engineers’ Forum APRIL 2020

VOLUME 41 NUMBER 2

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Undergraduate Research Page 05 ................................................................................. inspireFly: Making Space Local 05 .................................................................................... ................................................................. Ware Lab Series: ASCE Concrete Canoe Page 09 Ware Lab Spotlight: Baja SAE 05 ........................................................................................... .................................................................................... WareRocketry Lab Series: Astrobotics Page 13 at Virginia Tech 05 .......................................................................................... ................................................ Supporting International Ware Students GalipatiaBOLT LLC Page 19 Lab in Spotlight: 05 ................................................................... ................................................................ Engineering Entrepreneurship: HitchHiqe Page 23 Kroehling Advanced Materials Foundry Volume 41, No. 2

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S T U D E N T S U C C E S S

Photo / studentsuccess.vt.edu/

Individual Tutoring and Coaching

Peer tutoring and coaching appointments will take place over Zoom on Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and on Fridays from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Staff coaching will occur Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Students can still make, modify, and cancel these appointments through Navigate as usual.

Group Tutoring

Review sessions will continue at their originally scheduled times unless changes are needed. We have posted Zoom links to each review session on the Tutoring page of our website, and students may use these links to drop in as needed.

Success Seminars

In lieu of live-streamed seminars, we are developing a new Canvas site that will host short recordings and reflective questions on each of our seminar topics. These resources will be posted over the next couple of weeks. Students will be able to access these seminars at their convenience.

Online Resources

For students who cannot access video-based services, our tutors and coaches are preparing written guides to some of our most requested topics including both courses and success skills (e.g., navigating online courses, time management, procrastination). These guides will be posted on our website when they are complete.

Please see our website for more information about our services, and reach out to us at studentsuccess@ vt.edu or at 540-231-5499 if you have any questions. We are here to support you.

ENGINEERS’ FORUM

Photo / Rocketry at Virginia Tech

On the Cover Launch!

VOLUME 41 NUMBER 2

F E AT U R E S inspireFly: Making Space Local

Ware Lab Spotlight: Baja SAE

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Rocketry at Virginia Tech

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Ware Lab Spotlight: BOLT

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www.ef.org.vt.edu

Soumya Khanna

Melanie Do

Julia Pimentel

Isabella Bartolome

Kroehling Advanced Materials Foundry Jessica Barbish

Virginia Tech - Engineers’ Forum

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@vtengineers_forum

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ENGINEERS’ FORUM OFFICERS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Julia A. Pimentel Sophomore Materials Science and Engineering

RJ Weaver Sophomore Industrial Design

CHIEF COPY EDITOR

MANAGING EDITOR

BUSINESS MANAGER

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER

Bruce Lee Senior Professional and Technical Writing

Jin Tian Acton Junior Philosophy

(Background)

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Alexander Petsopoulos Sophomore Aerospace Engineering

Jessica Barbish Sophomore Mechanical Engineering

ABB industrial robotic arm at Virginia Tech’s Research and Development Facility (RDF) Photo / RJ Weaver

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the April 2020 issue of Engineers’ Forum!

As you know, there have been many changes since the beginning of the spring semester, but our team is glad that we still have the opportunity to share engineering stories with you!

We hope the transition to online education has been going smoothly. And most importantly, we hope that you’re staying safe and healthy. A great way to learn about VT engineering and pass time is to read our magazines! Hope you enjoy!

Soumya Khanna starts off by introducing the inspireFly team, a passionate group of undergraduate students who collaborate with Space@VT to Make Space Local. Learn about what a CubeSat structure is and how to get involved.

In our Ware Lab spotlight series, Melanie Do showcases Baja SAE. If you want to design, build, compete, and get in the driver’s seat to race an off-road vehicle, then this is a great read!

Passionate about rockets? Then Rocketry at Virginia Tech is a team that may interest you!

In this piece, I give a breakdown of their unique rocket design and their multi-disciplinary set of sub-teams.

From rockets we head to motorcycles in Isabella Bartolome’s Ware Lab spotlight on BOLT. Transforming a gasoline motorcycle to an electric one, BOLT is another design team to explore.

Head to the Kroehling Advanced Materials Foundry if you want to witness the pouring of bright molten metal. In her article, Jessica Barbish highlights the various student projects and activities that happen in the foundry.

Thank you for picking up a copy of the April issue of Engineers’ Forum. We hope you finish the semester off strong! Through your incredible support, we continue to fulfill our mission of capturing the student engineering experience at Virginia Tech.

Sincerely,

Julia A. Pimentel Editor-in-Chief

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Engineers’ Forum Editor-in-Chief Creative Director

RJ Weaver

Chief Copy Editor

Bruce Lee •

Managing Editor Business Manager Social Media Manager

Writers

Photography Team

Graphic Assistant Faculty Advisors

@vtengineers_forum

Julia A. Pimentel

Alexander Petsopoulos Jin Tian Acton Jessica Barbish Jin Tian Acton Jessica Barbish * Isabella Bartolome * Kashyap Bhatt Melanie Do * • Maaz Hasan Mehak Kamal Soumya Khanna * Caitlin McConnell Alexander Petsopoulos Julia A. Pimentel * Elisabeth Robb

* indicates writer directly featured in the April issue • Graduating seniors of Engineers’ Forum.

Congratulations! Thank you so much for your valuable contributions to our team!

Maaz Hasan Kendal Price Jayden Remias Thanh Tran Connor Hodgkins Peter Means Suzanne Irby

Virginia Tech - Engineers’ Forum

www.ef.org.vt.edu

Photo / Rocketry

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inspireFly representing at the 5th IAA conference in Italy.

Photo / Alex Gardner

inspireFly:

Making Space Local Article /

Souyma Khanna

Virginia Tech’s inspireFly team is designing, developing, and testing novel CubeSat (small squareshaped miniature satellites) technology at state-of-the-art facilities. inspireFly’s motto is “Making Space Local”. Benjamin Strickler and Simran Singh co-founded this team in 2018 shortly after Astranis Students for the Exploration and Development of Space Satellite (SEDS SAT II) launched their competition. Students for the Exploration and Development of Space is the largest studentrun space nonprofit organization in the world empowering young people to make an impact in space exploration.

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The inspireFly team comprises 100 undergraduate students and is advised by a team of researchers and faculty at the Center for Space Science and Engineering Research or Space@VT. Their core values are inspiration, diversity, effectiveness, ambition, sincerity. They have two main teams which are technical and non-technical (business) that are broken down into further subteams.

Benjamin Strickler, a fourth-year Aerospace and Ocean Engineering major and the Project Manager of inspireFly along with Simran Singh, a fifth-year Aerospace and Ocean Engineering major and the Chief Engineer of inspireFly were excited to seize an opportunity of a free launch into space.

While searching for a project, the team wanted to interest college students and create a personal connection/interaction with space. “We wanted to bring the general public in the picture and connect them with outer space,” Simran recalls.

The team designed a product called ContentCube which will essentially allow people to send a picture to it and it will take a picture of their patent-pending external display screen (“selfie”) before sending it back down. The team won the SEDS SAT-2 Competition last year which allowed them to have a free launch of their product. Thirteen SEDS chapters across the country including Purdue, CU Boulder participated in this competition. Benjamin recalls, “We did not have as much experience and felt

“Something like this was never done before.”

- Benjamin Strickler

inspireFly Team. Photo / Alex Gardner

like the underdogs. Our idea set us apart and the team’s hard work paid off. Something like this was never done before.” The team members recall the competition to be a great learning experience from brainstorming to implementation. They were flattered to be given the opportunity and believed to have achieved a lot in the past year.

The team has been raising awareness about their product and their mission. Some of the leads of the team were able to go to the 5th International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Conference in Italy to share more about their product and goal/objective. The team also participated in the Innovation Challenge at Paris Space Week in France.

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Photo / inspireFly Logo

Currently, the team is on a mission to raise funds for the development of their CubeSat. Their goal is to raise 100,000 $ in the near future. Matthew Krivansky, a third-year Computer Science major with a minor in Economics, is the Business Director of inspireFly. Matthew recently joined the team but has closely worked with the team while he was the President of SEDS at Virginia Tech. He is looking forward to fundraising and believes to create a clearer path with the help of Consulting Group at Virginia Tech where he’s currently working too.

What is inspireFly raising funds for?

The inspireFly team is raising funds for the development of their product, ContentCube.

This will allow the team to purchase materials, software, test devices and components for their satellite.

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Why are they raising funds?

Usually, space projects aren’t very appealing or interesting to the general public, specifically college students. Our generation of space lovers watched Star Wars and Star Trek. The futuristic approach of the movies excited us about space exploration. However, space is still not accessible to the general public and seems like a reach. inspireFly is raising awareness and building products like ContentCube to interest people about space exploration and connect space lovers with outer space.

Where can I donate?

You can check out inspireFly’s gofundme page: www.ef.org.vt.edu/inspire-fly1 and learn more about the donation benefits!

Website link: https://inspirefly.co/ Our gofundme page: https://www.gofundme. com/f/vmfzyg-inspirefly-contentcube Our contact email: inspireflyofficial@gmail.com

Facebook: InspireFly Instagram: inspirefly_official Twitter: @inspireFlySpace inspireFly team leads at SpaceVision 2019. Photo / Alex Gardner

A message from Linda Nguyen, Social media, marketing, and design lead of inspireFly : inspireFly is kicking off their ContentCube Social Media Campaign and is reaching out to connect space to the local community starting with Virginia Tech students whether you are a selfie-lover, space enthusiast, or both. As students themselves who have faced lab access and campus restrictions, members have moved to working virtually and remotely to continue their mission to bring space access to you. They are inviting you to join them in “Making Space Local�! By donating at least $5 to their gofundme page and filling out a simple survey form which includes uploading a photo, you will help them raise funds for their project which will increase the likelihood of your photo to be used for a free space selfie! This will give you the opportunity to do something fun and to look forward to while staying strong and working hard at home. Please fill out this form: www.ef.org.vt.edu/inspire-fly2

Linkedin: inspireFly www.linkedin.com/company/inspirefly Website: www.inspirefly.co Youtube: inspireFly ContentCube

Are you a social media influencer? If yes, then inspireFly would love to broadcast any of your pictures/videos into space! This is an exciting opportunity for any social media influencers out there. Contact inspireFly to learn more about this opportunity.

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Photo / Baha SAE

Ware Lab Series:

Baja SAE Article /

President Jeff Stout VP of Operations Hunter Clark

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Melanie Do

Chief Engineer John Gilleran

VP of Outreach Josh Jones

VP of Finance Melanie Do

A closer look into the Baja SAE design team located in the Ware Lab was provided by Josh Jones, Vice President of Outreach.

What is Baja SAE? Baja SAE is a competition for collegiate teams to design, build, and race their single-seat off-road vehicle.

Why should students get involved with Baja? What are some of the benefits?

Baja relates closely with real-world engineering, where engineers are expected to be able to operate independently towards team goals and are responsible for purchasing parts.

The pull for Baja is the fact that there is a possibility of failure in a contained environment.

“It is not coursework, it is real-world work. There is a real-world application of engineering skills.”

- Josh Jones

There is a lot of networking both professionally and personally. Some members have been on the team for 2-4 years and that is their friend network, while recruiters see the good work that is done in the Ware Lab and try to grab those engineers specifically. Going to competitions, competing, etc. are also benefits.

How do students get involved?

Baja typically follows the engineering fairs and outreach events, such as CEED O-show, Women’s Preview Week, and many more. We also have a bay in the Ware Lab and you can typically find someone there that will guide you to the outreach liaison. Typically we email them so they get their Ware Lab Badge.

Once they email me back that they got their Ware Lab Badge, then I add them to the Slack and Google Drive, along with a packet of introduction information to get familiar with the car. From there, depending on who does it next, get assigned to a component or assigned to a subteam.

Do you have to be a specific major or grade?

No, we attract a lot of Mechanical Engineers, however we strive really hard to incorporate Computer Engineers.

Finance and communication majors are great to make our team more diverse and more comparable to a real-life engineering team. I see added benefit in trying to get everyone a role where they can apply the skills they’ve learned in the classroom. Computer engineers are used for helping develop testing apparatuses. There’s a sales component of our competition, so finance majors would be great for the sales portion and actually acquiring sponsors.

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How is Baja SAE competition wise?

doing

The engineering on our vehicle is sound.

At Winter Baja, our vehicle performed really well. We were a month or two ahead of schedule and we were able to race our vehicle successfully a month or two before normal finishing. Our car ran well at this competition, so we were probably going to do fairly well this year at competitions, if they were happening.

As far as this year, we are not competing due to COVID-19.

5-8 years ago, we were a top 10 team consecutively. Recently we have been dropping to the middle of the pack because we have not been able to finish our car in time. The years we did really well, we went to Winter Baja. Winter Baja allows you to test your car early to see

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how it does at the first real competition.

This is the reason why there was such a huge push to get the car out to Winter Baja this year. The fact that nothing substantial broke at Winter Baja this year meant that we only needed to fix the minor problems. We were about to do a lot more testing outdoors. We were ramping up so we would have a chase vehicle and a test vehicle. We have been steadily improving in the last 2-3 years.

What is the best thing/favorite moment you’ve gotten out of being on the team?

We had a competition in California last year. The road trip to California was pretty cool because it was a smaller group of people, even though the driving was tough. We did decently well in

Photo / Baja SAE

California and on the way back we went to Joshua Tree National Park. We went to Colorado because one of our team member’s families has a timeshare there, so we stayed at a resort for 2-3 days and grilled out. It was fabulous! We had gone during exam week, so the pace that we came back was trying to determine when people would start work. It was nice just to be able to spend time with friends without the stress of competition.

Social Media Facebook: www.facebook.com/ VTBajaSAE Twitter: @VTBajaOfficial Instagram: @vtbajasae Website: vtbaja.wixsite.com/vtbaja Photo / Baha SAE

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Photo / Olsen Budanur

Rocketry at

Virginia Tech Article /

Julia A. Pimentel

Rocketry at Virginia Tech is a student-led design team of 68 that competes in the annual Spaceport America Cup competition, the largest collegiate rocketry competition in the world.

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Their current project is to build a student researched and designed (SRAD) rocket that reaches 10,000 feet. Proud to be a student-led organization, the team has plenty of creative freedom to set technical goals and objectives. Success is dependent on their ability to adapt amidst challenges, teach themselves new skills, and apply knowledge from coursework. At the end of their design, build, and testing phases, they travel to New Mexico and compete against teams from over 130 different countries from 6 continents.

Ca pta in s

Jo h n n y J a ff e e

Wil Lindsey

Evidence of Johnny’s passion for rocketry is shown by his 5-year commitment to the team. He majors in aerospace engineering with a double minor in computer science and mathematics. In his free time he enjoys mountain biking and hiking.

A mechanical engineering major with a minor in entrepreneurship, Wil has spent his past 4 years on the team making contributions primarily pertaining to Aerodynamics and Payload. Wil also lives an active outdoor lifestyle in which he enjoys mountain biking and races on VT’s Ski Team.

Seven Software, Wade Foster

S u b - Te a m s

Aerostructures, Trevor Bondi

Avionics and Recovery, Salim Roustom

Leads

Business and Public Relations, Olsen Budanur

Propulsion, Dan Melillo

Payload, Colin Laliberte

Design Validation, Peter Buccowich

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For the last 5 years, Rocketry at Virginia Tech has expanded to a larger, more specialized group of students with members from many disciplines including aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, physics, marketing, and economics. The dedication of leadership and influx of freshmen contribute to the team’s ability to actively improve upon their designs.

This year’s rocket has undergone a two-year development cycle. It has been the largest and most complicated rocket they have built by far. The rocket is estimated to be 15.35 feet long with an 8 inch diameter. The dry weight without propellent is about 125 pounds.

The team was looking forward to flying the rocket for the first time this year. Not only was this the first time they had ever tried to manufacture their own motor, but it was also the first time they had any sort of internal structure that’s more than a traditional monocoque structure. Maybe explain what kind of structure that is Additionally, the team is given the following challenge. By competition rules, the team needs to design and build their own motor, airframe, and major flight components themselves. The team is not allowed to buy commercial components for any major flight hardware. To successfully accomplish their goals, each sub-team collaborates in creating the rocket.

BREAKDOWN OF INDIVIDUAL SUB-TEAMS: Propulsion : design a motor to meet target altitude THE HYBRID ROCKET MOTOR Most rocket motors at this scale are considered solid: once you light it, that’s it. It’s going to burn until it’s done. A hybrid rocket motor is different. In this design, a solid fuel 15

Engineers’ Forum | www.ef.org.vt.edu

interacts with a liquid oxidizer - nitrous oxide in this case. The fuel and oxidizer don’t mix until the moment of launch.

Another interesting aspect of their building phase is the use of advanced manufacturing, specifically 3D printing to produce fuel grains with complex geometries. The unique shape and surface area of the grain boosts thrust by increasing how quickly the grain burns.

The hybrid rocket motor lets the team control the performance of the engine easily, especially since the thrust profile can be modified by using software to control valve positions or by swapping motor components.

All PCB boards that control the valves are designed from scratch, manufactured, soldered, and hooked up onto the rocket by the team.

Fuel alternatives: The current rocket’s motor runs off of plastic and laughing gas. An alternative is laughing gas and candle wax. Imagine a pumpkin spice scented rocket.

Software : operate the rocket from afar and oversee website Since safety restrictions are pretty tight, the team must always be aware of competition guidelines. Most of what the software sub-team does involves code and microcontrollers. Because the team is unable to be in close proximity to the rocket during launch, they must rely on the software sub-team to control the rocket from a safe distance, usually at least 2000 feet away.

“We don’t want the rocket to blow up.”

- Wade Foster

Aerostructures : design and manufacture the rocket structure The aerostructures sub-team designs, analyzes, manufactures, and integrates structural components that go towards creating the launch vehicle’s airframe and internal structure. The vast majority of the team’s parts, ranging from carbon fiber body tubes to thrust-load bearing components are designed in-house and are built at a rapid pace to support the short turnaround times required to build a rocket over the course of a year. The team’s internal structure allows for significant gains in modularity at the vehicle level which give the team the ability to use the same vehicle with multiple engine configurations and flight profiles. This

modularity also allows the team to capitalize on iterative design, improving the airframe year-over-year without needing to start from the ground up every time.

Payload : creating a technology demonstration for the rocket The payload sub-team works to develop a technology demonstration or experiment that flies within the rocket. To be space efficient, they strive to make it fit within a standard cubesat structure.

To provide a brief background, the rocket creates a lot of side-to-side vibrations during launch which can cause damage to interior components. Therefore, this team is developing active and passive systems

Photo / Rocketry

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Photo / Rocketry

for isolating vibrations, while testing three different materials. Their goal is to find out the best way to implement them in future launches. They’re also in the process of developing an autonomous parafoil system that self-guides itself down to the ground.

Avionics and Recovery : oversee thes entire flight cycle from launch to recovery In charge of the active drag system and electronics, the avionics and recovery sub-team is vital towards establishing a competition-ready design. The active drag system predicts the apogee of the rocket in real time and adjusts air brakes accordingly.

In order to accomplish such, they have a servo and accelerometer.

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Moreover, they ensure the parachutes deploy at the right time and the rocket can be recovered using GPS electronics. The ECE majors on the subteam also ensure the wiring complies with competition guidelines.

Design Validation : completeing testing to provide constructive feedback on design Their duty is to give feedback on the rocket design using engineering tools, specifically finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

This team is important because they provide quantitative measurements on the performance of the rocket, thereby allowing the team to determine the factor of safety and allow for apogee prediction.

For example, the design validation team can determine structurally if the rocket will hold up and how the rocket will perform aerodynamically. The rocket undergoes a lot of loading, especially on take off. Essentially, design validation lets the team know if they did a good job or not. This team can record values such as coefficient of drag and center of pressure. One of their primary goals is to help the avionics and recovery team in modeling the active drag system.

Where do members go?

Students from the Rocketry at Virginia Tech design team have landed internships and jobs at Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems (NGIS), NAVAIR, Torc Robotics.

Business and Public Relations : connect the team with others Business and Public Relations is responsible for establishing, promoting and enhancing the image/brand of Rocketry at Virginia Tech by organizing outreach events, bolstering the relationships with their current sponsors, seeking future sponsorships, and managing the social media accounts. They have members from a large array of majors, from marketing to physics.

Make sure to check out their work!

Instagram: rocketryatvirginiatech Facebook: RocketryatVT Website: www.rocketryatvirginiatech.org

Valuable Skills Computer Aided Design (CAD) SolidWorks Inventor Electronic Design Automation (EDA) Autodesk Eagle Finite Element Analysis (FEA) Siemens’ FEMAP and NX Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFA) Siemens’ Star-CCM+ Computer languages MATLAB Python is highly recommended Photo / Rocketry

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Photo / Facebook BOLT at Virginia Tech

Ware Lab Series:

Bolt

Article /

Isabella Bartolome

BOLT is an undergraduate design team focused in the Ware Lab: we take a standard gasoline motorcycle, strip it down to its frame, and we rebuild it as a fully electric motorcycle to race it.

We interviewed members of BOLT’s future leadership team to get a closer look at the team!

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Leadership: Murray Re Mechanical Engineering Junior Senior Team Lead

Yannis Kousidis Mechanical Engineering Sophomore Junior Team Lead

Addison Jacunski Electrical Engineering Focus in Energy and Power Electronics Junior Controls Subteam Lead

Why should students get involved with BOLT and what are some of the benefits of being on the team?

Kousidis, Junior Team Lead, believes one of the best reasons to become involved with BOLT and electric vehicles is because it’s an up-and-coming sector of the market right now. “BOLT is a unique opportunity that lets us work with an electric vehicle personally. What BOLT really gives you, as opposed to classes or even certain work positions, is the ability to be intimately involved with the design and build process of something and really get to see a project through from start to end.”

Hom, Powertrain Sub-team Lead, mentions how BOLT is a great way to get involved with designing something.

“Applying what we learn in the classroom to an actual project is important because there’s only so much a professor can teach you.” Jacunski, Controls Sub-team Lead, highlights how there is a lot of interaction between majors that you don’t get until your senior year. For Re, Senior Team Lead, getting in the machine shop was a big benefit. “It’s cool to come

Will Hom Mechanical Engineering Junior Powertrain Subteam Lead

James Schubert Mechanical Engineering Junior Head of the Chassis Subteam

up with a design in your head, put it onto the computer, and then into your actual hands.”

Another thing Hom found was that being on the team exposed him to a lot of different systems and things that he hadn’t really done before. “When I first joined I was mostly focused on what I knew before coming in, like CAD and machines, so I applied to the Chassis Sub-Team. The team needed people on Powertrain when I joined, so I got to dive a lot more into battery pack and powertrain system design, which I hadn’t really done before. Now I’m looking forward to doing that a lot next year. If someone joins in the future, they might join a project they’re not very comfortable with, but there’s going to be people around them that will guide them through the process and help them become a more well-rounded engineer.”

Schubert, Chassis Sub-Team Lead, mentions an overlooked part of joining a design team like BOLT is the increase in job prospects when you graduate. “We have people on our team each year that go to huge automakers like GM and Ford, as well as defense and aerospace companies like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. That’s just an edge that being in the Ware Lab gets over the rest of the engineering student population. We’re also the fastest design team on campus; Volume 41, No. 2

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our current generation bike hasn’t been tested yet due to a few setbacks, but it should be capable of going at 150 MPH.”

How can students get involved with BOLT?

We do one recruitment cycle annually.

VT BOLT website: http://www.bolt.org. vt.edu/index.php. Next semester, Fall 2020, there will be an application posted to that website. Any questions? Reach out to the BOLT email: vtboltelectric@ gmail.com.

Do you have to be a specific major or grade to join?

Any engineer is welcome to apply, but they’re mostly mechanical engineers, computer engineers, and electrical engineers. If anybody has an interest in motorcycles and are willing to put in the work to learn, they should by all means apply. No matter what, if you want to get on the team and you send us an email, they’re very willing to work with you.

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What is the best thing/favorite moment you’ve gotten out of BOLT?

Kousidis believes the hands-on experience and getting to see the start to finish of any design process has been the best thing about being on BOLT. “The fact that you’re seeing through the designs from start to finish has really helped my understanding of the design process a lot.” For Re, his favorite part has just been working as a team to solve problems. “Some of my favorite memories have definitely been sitting around trying to figure out how some CAM (computer-aided modeling) works and going into the machine shop, making it, and working through all the struggles that go along with that. The best thing I’ve gotten out of BOLT is friendship and teamwork.”

Hom highlights, “I don’t really have a favorite memory per se, but I’ve always liked coming into the bay, getting to work, and always having people to talk to; it’s just a great group of people to

Photo / Facebook - BOLT at Virginia Tech

be working with and I’ve enjoyed every second of it for sure.” For Jacunski, his favorite thing was that, recently, he got to design a PCB (printed circuit board) which was a long and sometimes really detailed process. Getting to see the final product put together at the end was great.” Schubert includes, “the part I’d like to emphasize is that this team has sponsorship from companies like GM and other large corporations where we basically just have resources that I, as an individual, would probably never have for personal projects.”

What does the design process entail for BOLT?

Re points out that one of the key things to the design process is really defining what the problem is. “For us, that is designing a race motorcycle or a fully-electric performance motorcycle and, once you have that down, you can start thinking of a couple of ideas and keep moving from there. Then, once you have a design, you

start making a technical drawing, then manufacturing, and then assembling the bike.” Moreover, Kousidis adds “it’s a lot of networking and reaching out to different people and different resources.

As you’re designing, you want to check in with people that are in charge of other systems of the bike and make sure your design fits in with the other designs that are happening.”

How is BOLT doing competition wise?

They race in the eMotoRacing Series with AHRMA (American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association), an all-electric racing class. Kousidis mentions, “It tends to be pretty competitive, and we’ve had some good results in the past. We really just race to compete and for the love of the sport, but we aim to do well because doing well in these races is what proves and validates our design. While there might not be a prize or an award, racing proves that everything we’re doing is pushing the envelope on performance as best we can, so it still is very important to us.”

Any last thoughts for potential team members?

If anyone’s interested now, it wouldn’t hurt to send your resume to us, tell us you’re interested, and ask any questions you want. We’re always open to answering questions from people. You can get involved as a freshman and that’s even better because you can start learning about the bike and, by the time you’re a senior, you’ll be pretty experienced, and be able to contribute in a big way. The amount of effort that you put into the team is equal to the amount of reward that you’ll get out of doing it. This is a very unique experience and you should want to make the most of it. The best time to join is as early as you can; that’s how you’re going to get the most from the team, and it’s how you’re going to make the biggest contribution to the team.

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Photo / Matthew Drew

Kroehling Advanced

Materials Foundry Article /

Jessica Barbish

There are many places at Virginia Tech that remain under the radar of most students.

One of these places is the Foundry. We talked to Matthew Drew, a student who works at the foundry to get a better idea about what happens at the foundry.

What is the foundry?

“The foundry is a research and learning facility that is sponsored by the metal casting industry to promote student interest in metal casting and research advancements in metal casting.” The foundry is also a resource that offers “people a way to create

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metal castings for research projects, art competitions, and design teams. Many senior design teams and competitionbased design teams such as Baja SAE and human power sub use our facility to make parts for their teams.”

How would you describe it in your own words?

“At its core, the foundry is a learning laboratory. It provides students with the opportunity to learn and get involved with metal casting. The students and faculty in the lab are always welcoming of new students and enjoy sharing their passion for metal casting in hopes that you will grow a passion for it too. The foundry is also a highly technical research facility that gives students the option to work

on advanced research projects such as creating metal cast armored plating for military vehicles.”

What is your favorite thing about the foundry?

“My favorite thing about the foundry is the community involved around it. The main reason that people form such a good community is because everyone is watching each other’s backs while in the facility. There is an associated risk with creating liquid metal at 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, but people use the safety training they’ve been given and make sure that no one gets hurt while in the facility. The students who are truly involved with the program form a strong bond with each other that will last long into their professional careers.”

Photo / Matthew Drew

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And the coolest thing you have made?

“The coolest thing that I have made at the foundry is a small aluminum dome. This casting is one I create for a competition that my team won first place for. It is a tiny dome structure that is roughly 8 inches in diameter with trusses about a quarter of an inch thick.

This dome can withstand about 50,000 Newtons of force which is the equivalent of a large truck. Now I have been using it as a demonstration of how some more complicated castings are made and to show children that aluminum is an extremely strong material. It also rings like a bell.“

How did you become involved in the foundry?

“I got involved in the foundry by emailing the professor in charge of the foundry in the second week of my freshman year. I asked if I could tour the facility and he paired me up with a senior to shadow for the day and show me around. After that I just kept coming back and eventually asked to join an undergraduate research project. I got to hand pour molten iron after being around for a few weeks. Eventually, I became more involved with the student organization by going to conferences and competing in competitions and was eventually elected to be co-president of the student organization.”

What are ways others can become involved with the foundry?

“The foundry offers many opportunities for students to get involved such as undergraduate research projects, classes that count for technical elective credit in some majors, design teams and

Photo / Matthew Drew

“50,000 Newtons of force” - Matthew Drew Photo / Brayand Zurita

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competitions, and the American Foundry Society (AFS) student chapter that is extremely involved with industry. Active involvement in the student organization almost guarantees you an internship in the metal casting industry and a job once you graduate if that is what you decide you want to do. The student organization also offers many scholarships to students that are involved in AFS, we awarded about $23,000 in scholarships last year to students at VT.” “The best way for someone to get involved would be for someone to email me (matt00165@vt.edu) saying that they would like a tour of the facility.

Afterwards, I will pair them up with a student, much like I was, to show them around for the day so they can get a feel for what happens in the facility. After that we let you tell us if you want to be more involved. We are always looking for highly motivated students to join our team and would be happy to teach anyone with an interest in metal casting.”

“If you just want to come see molten metal, we have a bi annual open house event where we let the community tour our facility and make a small casting to take home. Next one is planned for fall semester”

Why should people become involved with the foundry?

What makes it unique?

“People should become involved because it is honestly a fun lab where you get to learn skills that are extremely marketable in industry. Even if you don’t want to work in a foundry, the metallurgical skills you learn while being in the facility are extremely useful in aerospace, automotive, or really anything that involves metal. The foundry is all about hands-on learning and you would be surprised by how much information you absorb just by being there. There was an entire class that I completely aced just from the info I learned from sticking around the foundry.”

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Volume 41 No. 2

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