Engineering students from more than 90 colleges and universities in North America and Great Britain compete each year. Both competitions test student skills and vehicle performance in a variety of different applications and settings over a period of several days. Teams are judged on engineering design, cost analysis and vehicle performance, but they're also evaluated on their ability to present a development report on the project. Faculty advisers were Professors Leo Gaddis , who worked with the Formula team, and Harry Law , who oversaw the efforts of the Mini-Baja team. That experience will translate into additional career opportunities since the nation's top automotive companies recruit heavily from students who have participated in the competition.
Participants generally find the experience invaluable because it helps put theory into practice.
The competition requires students to secure their own financial backing, which helps strengthen their marketing and interpersonal skills while providing future industry contacts.