UNO Team Garners First Place in Watercraft Competition

A University of New Orleans engineering team sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corporation's Ship Systems sector recently piloted its solar-powered electric boat to a first-place finish in the sprint division of Solar Splash 2003. Solar Splash 2003, held this year in Buffalo, N.Y., is an intercollegiate engineering national competition that enables schools to obtain practical engineering experience through the design, fabrication and racing of solar-powered watercraft. The University of New Orleans team, sponsored by Ship Systems' Avondale Operations, won the Solar Splash sprint division for the fifth time in the past six years, covering the 300-meter race course in 25 seconds. This summer's Solar Splash competition provided an example of the possible benefits to Ship Systems from supporting such collegiate projects. "Avondale Operations is proud to support the University of New Orleans and its naval architecture and marine engineering programs," said George Yount, vice president of operations at Avondale. "We have a productive and mutually beneficial relationship with UNO, its students, and faculty on many of our shipbuilding programs, including several design and R&D projects." According to UNO School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Chairman Dr. Bahadir Inozu, this UNO team's continued dominance of this event is credited to the students' studies within UNO's School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. The UNO team consisted of students from the School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering and the department of Electrical Engineering. Team members included Andrew Hall (team captain), Andrian Hanson, Krister Enelogaus, Fredrik Foss, Don Williams, Robert Chan and team advisor Larry DeCan.