The MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team is a student run organization dedicated to designing, building and racing solar powered vehicles. Teams of typically 20 students strive for ultra light weight ultra efficient vehicles. For example, the MIT car Manta GTX required only 800 Watts (less than a typical toaster) to travel 45 mph. For the Australian World Solar Challenge we maintained that speed for five and a half days, racing from Darwin to Adelaide, to finish first in our class and eighth overall (only three hours behind the winner).

My three year tenure with the team included a complete construction cycle and two races. In 1999 I served as Chassis Group Leader for Manta GTX, which raced in Australia. As Chassis Group Leader I was in charge of all the mechanical components on the car, from braze welding the chromoly steel frame to changing the tires every night of the race. I experienced pretty much every part of putting together a safe and competitive vehicle, from machining custom hinges and fasteners to composite layup and suspension alignment.

In 2001 I also raced in the American Solar Challenge from Chicago to LA on route 66. My primary contributions where training a new Chassis Group Leader and designing the solar array layout. I wrote software to help optimize the array layout resulting in a 6% improvement over the previous design, independent of cell efficiency.