DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

After last year’s achievements at the Regional Student Conference in Jacksonville, USF’s Student Section had quite a reputation to live up to this year.  In addition to bringing victory back to USF in 2006, both the Florida West Coast Section and the USF Student Section were destined to host the next Student Conference in Tampa.  As time grew short and ASME International was in the process of a major reorganization effort, members from the parent chapter and the student section pulled together to coordinate the events, contests and funding needed to ensure the conference’s success. When April arrived, they found themselves playing host to dozens of students from all over the Southeastern United States.

The weekend started off on Thursday, April 6, 2006 afternoon with a “Behind the Scenes” tour of Busch Gardens Adventure Park.  Led by the Director of Park Engineering, Mark Rose, 72 students learned about the design and construction of some of the park’s most innovative and lucrative attractions.  Over the next two days, students competed against one another in oral, poster and website design contests and a student design competition.  This year’s project challenged students to build a machine which could allow quadriplegic fishermen to cast a lure accurately, retrieve it, make additional casts without assistance, and to reel in and lift a heavier weight simulating a fish on at least one cast. 

The conference was a phenomenal success and we have our wonderful sponsors, USF faculty and staff, students and Florida West Coast Section members to thank for it!

• First Place Co-Winners Ingersoll Rand Contest, University of South Florida & Mississippi State University

• Second Place Student Design Contest, Nathan Kirkconnell, Chris Tuggle, Kellie Pinson, Joseph Choueifati, "Hot Rod" 

• Second Place Old Guard Oral Competition, Daniel Bennett, "ASME USF Electric Race Car"

• Honorable Mention Student Design Contest, Nikesh Patel, Santos Medina, Brandon Baker, Matthew Berkebile, "Rocky IV"

• Honorable Mention Student Design Contest, Aaron Munoz, Phuc Pham, Brian Karcher, Tom DeCarlo, "PnuemataCaster 9000"

• Honorable Mention Old Guard Technical Poster Competition, Tiffany Lee, "Flying High With Rockets"

• Honorable Mention Old Guard Technical Poster Competition, Andrew McEwen, "The Corn-erstone of Tommorow"

• Honorable Mention Old Guard Technical Web Page Contest, Andrew McEwen, "Water Cooling 101"

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Photostory

   Reception
   Busch Garden Tour

   Oral Guard Presentation

   Design Contest
   Awards Ceremony