Technical Experience: Team members get hands-on engineering experience and learn technical skills that will be beneficial in their future careers. Working on this project is a great opportunity to implement the information that you have been learning in your courses in a real-life engineering environment.
Credit toward Your Degree: Participating in solar splash can earn you course credit which will help you make progress toward earning your degree. For more information on this, see the course options below in the "How to Join Solar Splash" section.
Great on Resume: Employers love to see design projects on the resumes of potential hires. Like an internship, being a part of a team like Solar Splash shows that you are able to function in a real-life engineering environment and work well with others as a part of a team. Your experience and accomplishments on the team are also great topics to talk about at interviews!
Have Fun: This team is about more than just building a boat. It is a great opportunity to get to know and hang out with other engineering students. We often go out to eat or go to events around town as a team. When we do testing for the boat, we spend the day at the lake having fun.
How to Join Solar Splash
Mechanical Engineering Seniors
If you are about to be a senior in the Mechanical Engineering Department, you can join the team by registering for the special topics course in the fall and the design five section in the spring. These will fulfill your graduation requirements.
Fall Semester: Register for ME461 ST: Solar Splash with Dr. Peter Vorobieff as the instructor
Spring Semester: Register for ME460 Mech Engr Design V the section taught by Dr. Peter Vorobieff
Note: You will need an override from Dr. Vorobieff in order to register for this section of Design V
Mechanical Engineering Graduate Students
If you are a graduate student in the Mechanical Engineering Department, you can join the team by registering for the special topics courses in the fall and spring semesters. These courses will satisfy graduation requirements.
Fall Semester: Register for ME561 ST: Solar Splash with Dr. Peter Vorobieff as the instructor
Spring Semester: Register for ME562 ST: Solar Splash with Dr. Peter Vorobieff as the instructor
Note: You may need an override to register for these courses. Please email Dr. Vorobieff if you need an override.
Other Engineering Students
If you are studying Mechanical Engineering, but you are not a senior yet, or if you are studying in a different engineering field, you can still get course credit for joining the solar splash team! It is very beneficial for team members to have multiple years of experience working on the boat, so younger students are always welcome. We also welcome students from other engineering majors - especially Electrical Engineering students because there is a lot of electrical engineering that goes into constructing a solar-powered boat.
Independent Study Course: Contact Dr. Vorobieff (kalmoth@unm.edu). Let him know that you are interested in joining the solar splash team and would like to register for an independent study course with him. This independent study course will count as an ME Elective for ME students and as a technical elective for other engineering students.
Volunteer: If you want to help out, but you don't want to worry about the time commitment that comes with being enrolled in a course for credit, you can still join the team as a volunteer to help out whenever you can. Contact Dr. Vorobieff (kalmoth@unm.edu) or solarsplash@unm.edu to learn more about ways that you can help and team meeting times.
