About UNM Solar Splash

The University of New Mexico's Solar Splash team was founded in 2015. This year, the team has 16 members (9 undergraduate students and 7 graduate students) from mechanical and electrical engineering. Our faculty advisor is Dr. Peter Vorobieff, a Professor and Assistant Chair in the Mechanical Engineering Department. 

The team's goal is to design and build a solar-powered boat to compete in the World Championship of Collegiate Solar Boating each June. Over the years, the UNM Solar Splash team has performed very well at the competition. For more information about the team's past accomplishments, see Previous Years and News.

Solar Splash is one of the senior capstone project options for undergraduates in the Mechanical Engineering department. Students from other engineering disciplines and years are also welcome to join the team. If you are interested in becoming a part of the UNM Solar Splash team, please see Join the Team.

The structure of the team varies from year to year, but there are generally sub-teams dedicated to the hull, solar array, drive train, and electrical systems. Students on the team choose one or more subteam to join. Each team analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of their system of focus, researches implementations of similar systems of the market today, and then determines what improvements can be made to the current system or design an entirely new system. The team works through the engineering design process to create CAD models, construct prototypes, perform tests and evaluations, and ensure the new design is compatible with the other systems for the boat. After the new design or improvements are finalized, the team will order the necessary parts, construct their system, and work with the other subteams to integrate their system with the rest of the boat. To learn more about the current subteams and the work that they are doing, see Current Work.

None of this work would be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. Thank you! If you are interested in supporting the UNM Solar Splash team, please see Donate for more information about how you can help. We add the logos of our sponsors to the finished boat to show our appreciation.