The chemistry of success: Tec students win Chem-E-Car competition

AIChE Mty, an American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) student group that represents the Chemical Engineering program on the Tec’s Monterrey campus, has won first place in the Chem-E-Car Performance Competition.

This regional conference was held at McNeese State University in Louisiana, United States.

The team also won second place in the Chem-E-Car Poster Competition, an award given to the posters that received the highest ratings from the judges in terms of research, safety, and presentation.

AIChE is an international organization that connects chemical engineering professionals and students in more than 110 countries.

Tec de Monterrey and the Autonomous University of Nuevo León were the only non-U.S. universities participating in the competition, which was attended by educational institutions such as Texas Tech University, McNeese State University, and Lamar University.

“As Mexican students, we showed that we have the skills to present a project in a different country,” said team captain Javier Santillán.

“We knew how to take advantage of each member’s individual strengths and somehow we got something positive that we could implement in the car,” Javier Santillán.

A competition with a sustainable approach

The Chem-E-Car Performance Competition is an annual event whose goal is for college students to design and construct a car powered by a chemical energy source.

However, this competition doesn’t just focus on developing participant’s technical skills. It also focuses on offering the space to find sustainable solutions to today’s challenges.

“This car competition represents an attempt to find alternatives that might propose sustainable and environmentally friendly reactions or propulsion mechanisms.

“The goal is to get the car to move a distance of between 15 and 30 meters. On the day of the competition, participants are informed of the given distance within that range,” shared Mariana Ortiz, AIChE captain.

Barbie Tech Dream, the Chem-E-Car from Tec de Monterrey, finished 0.67 meters short of the target 24 meters, taking first place at the regional level.

The campus team consisted of:

• Uriel Ruiz, Chemical Engineering student.
• Daniela Sánchez, Chemical Engineering student.
• Ericka Flores, Chemical Engineering student.
• Julia Tamayo, Chemical Engineering student.  
• Renata Ayala, Chemical Engineering student.
• Kenneth Girón, Mechatronics Engineering student.
• Hugo Treviño, Chemical Engineering student.
• Francisco Murga, Chemical Engineering student.
• Mariana Ortiz, Chemical Engineering student.   
• Juan Hernández, Chemical Engineering student.
• Javier Santillán, Mechanical Engineering student.

The Tec representative said that these results were due to their constant effort, dedication, teamwork, and good planning.

“We knew how to take advantage of each member’s individual strengths and somehow we got something positive that we could implement in the car,” said Santillán.

This regional victory qualified the team for the worldwide stage, which will take place in October in San Diego, California, where they will compete with universities not only from the United States but from around the world.

As part of their preparation for the international stage, AIChE members from the Monterrey campus are working on their areas of opportunity to achieve a place on the podium among the more than 50 universities that will participate.

“This team was built with a winning mentality, and this isn’t the time to stop,” said Ortiz.

Verónica Patiño, Director of Bioengineering and Chemical Processes, expressed her appreciation to the students for their participation in the Chem-E-Car Competition and Expoingenierías, where they won second place in the Physical Prototype category.

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