Missouri S&T’s Chem-E-Car Design Team won first place at the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Mid-American Regional Conference, held April 5-7 at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. The team will travel to San Diego this October to compete at the AIChE annual Student Conference.

The team’s car, the “Iodine Knight,” is powered by a copper-zinc battery and an iodine clock reaction. A clock reaction is a type of chemical reaction that takes place over a predictable amount of time. The team had to prepare a chemical reaction that would last long enough for their car to travel as close as possible to the target distance of 18 meters.  

Each team that passed a safety inspection had two chances for their car to go the target distance, with their best run counting towards their final placement. Missouri S&T’s closest run was 0.521 meters (or about 1.7 feet) past the target, beating the host team from the University of Arkansas by 0.113 meters (just under 4.5 inches). 

Team members who traveled to the conference are:

• Andrew Armstrong, president, a junior in chemical engineering from Kansas City, Missouri
• Michael Brown, car team lead, a junior in chemical engineering from Grain Valley, Missouri
• Kate Fogarty, research team lead, a junior in chemical engineering from O’Fallon, Missouri
• Wil Andren, a junior in chemical engineering from Defiance, Missouri
• Dylan Dush, a sophomore in electrical engineering from Cape Girardeau, Missouri
• Adam Hodge, a sophomore in chemical engineering from Saint Charles, Missouri
• Riley May, a junior in chemical engineering from Florence, Missouri
• Anna Reese, a junior in chemical engineering from Troy, Illinois
• Josh Riti, a junior in chemical engineering from Saint Charles, Missouri

About Missouri University of Science and Technology

Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) is a STEM-focused research university of over 7,000 students located in Rolla, Missouri. Part of the four-campus University of Missouri System, Missouri S&T offers over 100 degrees in 40 areas of study and is among the nation’s top public universities for salary impact, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more information about Missouri S&T, visit www.mst.edu.