My job is to oversee and motivate them, but never tell them what to build or how the event should be run. It's part of their educational experience to learn by making mistakes. Another important link in the Nevada-Reno human powered vehicle team is Candice Bauer, a mechanical engineering senior, team rider and director of the student HPV committee. Bauer said that the ASME human powered vehicle event challenges mechanical engineering students by taking them through the complete design process. The HPV projects teach everything.
Engineering is teamwork.
The most valuable skill the teams take with them after the event is a sense of teamwork, networking and communication. Bauer learned the value of teamwork while working on her senior project with four other students. Serving as a research assistant in the Heat Transfer Lab at Nevada-Reno, Bauer is also secretary of the ASME student section and vice president of the Engineering Honor Society of Tau Beta Pi. Fla. Graduating with highest honors next month, Bauer plans to attend graduate school in pursuit of her doctoral degree in mechanical engineering and microfabrication. Several things led Bauer to mechanical engineering.