Scouts programmed autonomous navigation – January 21, 2023

STEMWERX volunteers introduced scouts ages 6 through 16 to engineering, programming, 3D printing, and simulation! Daytona International Speedway’s Champion’s Club was the perfect backdrop to interview the WTR Andretti Racing team and Jordan Taylor from Corvette Racing! The drivers shared their team’s preparation secrets for racing hybrids at the Rolex 24.

Scout Days At Daytona International Speedway – January 4, 2020

The Girl Scouts had a special session this year at the STEMWERX Scout Days event, learning to build robotics kittens! STEMWERX also brought another new activity where students learned to piece together the parts of an engine using Augmented Reality. The scouts and their parents learned about how race cars are designed and tested. STEMWERX explained how cars are designed and tested digitally in a virtual wind tunnel, then tested in scale and full-sized wind tunnels before testing race cars on the track. We demonstrated our 3D printing and discussed how parts of both scale-model and full-size cars.

Rolex 24 Weekend at Daytona

Check out these 360 videos from the Grid Walk before the WeatherTech SportsCar Challenge (Race Results). Click and drag the screen to look around in all four clips!:

Many exciting things happening at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend. So many great drivers and their teams!

We were very happy to see our intern from The Roar Before the 24, Richie Layton. He was busy preparing the Ford Mustang GT4 with the Ian Lacy team for the Michelin Pilot Challenge (Race Results). We’re always happy when we’re able to help college students find other opportunities! He let us know how valuable it was to watch the team engineer and other staff in action!

Scout Days at Daytona International Speedway – January 5, 2019

What a way to start the year! STEMWERX was invited to bring their wind tunnel activity to the Roar Before the 24 at Daytona! This LIVE event was supported by our partners at Andretti FASTTRACK Experience. 300 people came out for three sessions where they heard from the Corvette Racing team, IMSA engineer Matt Kurdock and the USF Racing team! Students learned about downforce and drag and compared graph data to understand how spoilers and wings are designed into race cars for better aerodynamic efficiency.

Hurricane Michael Victims Have a day of educational Fun at RISE & INNOV8 event hosted by HSU Family Foundation

STEMWERX brings their wind tunnel to the RISE/INNOV8 event at Gulf Shores State College. Over 1,000 people participated in a day of fun STEM learning. Many educators and STEM organizations provided interactive learning activities for students of all ages. Students as young as 5 learned Bernoulli’s Principle and how wings lift an airplane off the ground at the STEMWERX station.

ANDRETTI FASTTRACK EXPERIENCE LIVE Event, Verrado High School, Goodyear, Arizona

10/16/18 Approximately 300 students from middle schools in Maricopa County, AZ along with classes at Verrado High School were very interested in how aerodynamics affects race car performance during the data acquisition activity where they compared the downforce and drag force of model race cars. High School students mentored the groups as they learned about aerodynamic aids that engineers design into race cars. Afterward, students enjoyed a ride in the MotionSphere full-motion simulator, a 12 ft orb, where they experienced a ride-along with Mario Andretti!

12/13/18 The word is getting out in Maricopa County! Three more middle school classes joined us for an expanded Andretti FASTTRACK Experience LIVE Event at Verrado High School. Students rotated through stations and we added Matt and his sporty Ford Mustang police car, used at Ford Driving Skills for Life. Jeff Andretti Motorsports (JAM) Marketing Partners and STEMWERX had a good visit with Agua Fria Union High School Superintendent, Dr. Runyan who is excited to implement our LIVE activity into more schools!

Wind TunneL Testing at ROBOTICON

Students in Kindergarten through 12th grade competed at ROBOTICON in Tampa and visited the wind tunnel booth hosted by Andretti FAST TRACK and STEMWERX. Students learned the physics concepts behind front end splitters and rear wing assemblies. Then they analyzed the data by comparing the drag, downforce and aerodynamic efficiency between a 3D printed Nascar, Indy race car and sports car. Learning physics and aerodynamics by examining downforce and drag in auto racing, is a fun way to be introduced to force diagrams and data analysis.

Engineering Design Workshop

STEMWERX worked with UWF’s Sea3d lab to pilot a workshop entitled Engineering Design: Aerodynamics of Race Cars. Guest Speaker Dr. Ken Blackburn, Aerodynamics Engineer and Guinness Book World Record holder for longest sustained paper airplane flight, presented aerodynamic concepts and discussed specific features of race cars that contribute to downforce and drag.

Aerodynamics in Motorsports Summer Camp

Students at this one-week camp designed their own race cars and competed for the most efficient design by measuring drag and downforce during wind tunnel testing. These 7th and 8th graders created their designs in Tinkercad and Autodesk program. College summer interns from Carnegie Melon and University of New Mexico as well as a high school student who will be starting at Georgia Tech in the Fall of 2018, were heavily involved in the curriculum developed and delivered at this camp.

Speakers:

Katie Smilovski, Fluid Dynamics Engineer and former designer for Ford GT prototype race cars with Multimatic

Max Angelelli, co-owner of the Wayne Taylor Racing Team, with 27 career victories in auto racing

Ricky and Jordan Taylor, 2017 Champions of the International Motor Speedway Association, WeatherTech Sportscar Championship

Ken Blackburn, Air Force Research Lab Aerodynamics Engineer and author of The World Record, Air Plane Book

Internships

Our staff and associates have mentored AFRL Scholars for four summer sessions. We also established the internship programs at SOFWERX in Tampa in 2015 and the AFWERX Innovation Hub in Las Vegas in 2018. Engineering design blogs are required in order to journal project progress.

FIRST^® Robotics

Beth coached three FIRST^® LEGO^® League teams School Year 2013-2014 & 2014-2015.In 2015, FIRST^® invited her to serve as FIRST^® LEGO^® League Partner for the 16 counties in the Florida – Northwest region. During the next two years, Beth managed the tournament series for the region and was a lead trainer for coaches. She was also very active in encouraging teachers and coaches at all grade levels with mentorship and providing resources. She also served on the FIRST^® Florida State Operating Committee and State tournament operations.

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Virtual Reality

VR is an excellent tool for learning complex concepts in math and science. Check out my blog about a project where participants could view a virtual periodic chart, then move sub-atomic particles (protons, neutrons & electrons) to build an atom!

• Atom Builder Game
• Sensor Glove