Using Baja SAE for International Student Outreach

Baja SAE Collegiate Design Series is a competition that simulates real-world engineering design projects. Engineering students are tasked to design and build a single seat, off-road vehicle that will survive a challenging environment. The student teams must design, plan, manufacture, and race a vehicle within the limits of the rules. SAEINDIA recognized the value of this hands-on learning experience and initiated a similar program in 2006. In an effort to accelerate the level of competition and safety, a decision was made to benchmark their program against the program of a historically successful team. This provided an outstanding outreach opportunity for an American team from this international competition. Nine Baja SAE team members and two faculty sponsors from Tennessee Tech University traveled to India to conduct workshops by sharing their expertise in Baja competition and safety. Both faculty and students concluded that the opportunities of this experience far outweighed the challenges and risks. There is often reluctance to undertake foreign travel with students due to the inherent challenges. These may include jet lag, health issues, scheduling, being in a minority, and differences in food, language, and cultural expectations. Although students on this journey experienced all of these challenges, the challenges paled when compared with the amazing opportunities. In their first encounter, all of the students discovered that their shared passion for Baja created an immediate bond. These Baja-related conversations were heart-felt and intense. Students quickly realized how much they had in common. In the more formal workshop setting, the outreach team became more confident as they realized their robust knowledge of this subject area, and that they could make a significant contribution to their Indian counterparts. In the available time between the three workshops conducted, travel and cultural immersion provided many educational opportunities. Students also had the opportunity to visit the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and several manufacturing facilities. This provided the opportunity for the students to observe both similarities and differences in manufacturing and research between the two countries. Although this specific program may not be replicated in detail, this type of learning experience should be embraced by all engineering programs when opportunities present themselves.