SAE Foundation Annual Report 2014 - 8

STEMMING THE SOLUTION WITH:
COLLEGIATE DESIGN SERIES™
As rising seniors with majors in mechanical engineering US Naval Academy (USNA)
students, or as they are referred to, midshipmen, are required to prepare a thesis or
capstone project. There are a variety of projects from which these students can choose,
but a unique few mentored by Leonard Hamilton and led by Jon Sharbo have chosen the
extreme engineering design challenge of Formula SAE.
Despite the myriad of challenges created by the tightly structured environment designed
to push each person well beyond their perceived limits, U.S. Naval Academy engineering
students have succeeded in designing and competing in Formula SAE for the past 10
years. Participating in CDS as a military academy student presents unique challenges not
seen by other university participants. Jon Sharbo, USNA CDS team captain, explained
that time is one the greatest challenges facing his team, "Our days start at 5:30 am every
morning and we are beholden to mandatory set scheduling for all midshipmen for our
classes, meals, athletics, parades, drills and study time. This leaves only our engineering
class time to work on the project."
Since the USNA approaches the activity as a senior capstone project the team is
comprised of novice members year after year. This differs from CDS teams from other
universities whose students participate year after year and bring veteran experience to
the challenge. This inhibits the team and often leads to time challenges in the testing
phases. Although Len Hamilton, USNA CDS team faculty advisor explained that, "Unlike
my other CDS team from a non-military university, these students are much more willing
to accept guidance and advice from me as the advisor since they do not have the
experience from previous years from which to draw. On my other team, students often
disregard advice believing they know the ropes, but often find they don't, putting them
behind on their design timelines."
Hamilton pointed out that while time is limited, the very characteristics that made them
good candidates for the academy benefit them in the CDS team. Hamilton says that, "As
USNA midshipmen in their 4th year, they tend to be a very close knit group of natural
leaders who can get organized quickly and work efficiently." Hamilton also shared
the importance of the project in building decision making and leadership skills both
especially critical for these pre-service young adults.

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SAE Foundation Annual Report 2014

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