On Saturday, May 5th, the Solar Boat Team at UC Davis competed at the seventh annual California Solar Regatta. This competition is sponsored by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), and is an effort to promote renewable energy and sustainability among California high schools, colleges, and universities. Participating boats are scored on performance, design, sustainability, and presentation. The UC Davis team was awarded Best Technical Design, Best Artistic Design, Best Boat Design, and the Spirit Award, and placed second overall for the competition. These awards came after nine months of hard work and countless hours of dedication from the entire team, and was made further possible by contributions from the team’s sponsors and their faculty mentors. The Davis Solar Boat Team is a student design team under the mentorship of Dr. Jason Moore in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), as well as Dr. Alexander Forrest in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). The Solar Regatta is a competition showcasing boats that run on solar energy. Boats can be retrofitted to run on solar energy or built from scratch. The 2017-18 team emphasized the application of engineering principles to design and manufacture a single-hull craft from raw materials and recycled parts. Additionally, a mechanical engineering senior design team fabricated a drivetrain with a continuously variable transmission to address the different power inputs from the solar panels and battery. This is the third year that UC Davis has competed at the Solar Regatta. The team started as a senior design project in 2016, and has since expanded to become a student design team based in the MAE department. This year the 35 strong team built on lessons learned over the past two years to create a winning boat. This success was made possible by the support of our sponsors: the Craig Childers Transportation Technology Project Fellowship, the MAE Department, the CEE Department, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, the College of Engineering, Resin Research Company, Insulfoam, Airtech, and SMUD. A special thank you to Naveen Gowrishankar, Professor Steve Robinson, Professor Valeria La Saponara, Larry Fisher, Blaze Cubanski, Loan-Anh Nguyen, Mike Akahori and the Engineering Student Design Center Staff. The team invites you all to come out and check out the boat at the Senior Design Showcase on June 7 from 1:30-4:30PM at the ARC Pavilion.

Team Members: Name Major Standing

Adarsh Umarani Mechanical Engineering Freshman

Alvis Ip Electrical Engineering Freshman

Carrina Iacobacci Biomedical Engineering Freshman

Jason Leung Mechanical Engineering Freshman

Vicki Fan Electrical Engineering Freshman

Dillon Degala Electrical Engineering Sophomore

Jack Anderson Mechanical Engineering Sophomore

Allan Saghbini Aerospace Engineering Junior

Benjamin Depew Mechanical Engineering Junior

Bradford Lee Aerospace Engineering Junior

Cameron Morelli Mechanical Engineering Junior

Chau Nguyen Mechanical Engineering Junior

Evan Anderson Aerospace Engineering Junior

Jacob Lee Electrical Engineering Junior

Jasmine Muniz Electrical Engineering Junior

Justin Kim Mechanical Engineering Junior

Manolo Calderon Electrical Engineering Junior

Marty Allgeier Mechanical Engineering Junior

Morgan Huang Electrical Engineering Junior

Moses Rodriguez Electrical Engineering Junior

Nicholas Magnasco Mechanical Engineering Junior

Raquel Keil Mechanical Engineering Junior

Rufino Hernandez Electrical Engineering Junior

Trevor Metz Mechanical Engineering Junior

Melissa Ng (Mel) Mechanical Engineering Senior

David Edgar Mechanical Engineering Senior

Justin Hoohuli Aerospace Engineering Senior

Melissa Quijada Mechanical Engineering Senior

Paul Meranian Mechanical Engineering Senior

Seth Garner Mechanical Engineering Senior

Shane Hunter Mechanical Engineering Senior

Zhaoning Chen Mechanical Engineering Senior

Naveen Gowrishankar Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Teaching Assistant, Graduate Student

Jason Moore Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty

Alexander Forrest Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty

Thank you to our sponsors! ● Craig Childers Transportation Technology Project Fellowship ● Airtech Advanced Materials Group ● Insulfoam ● UC Davis Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department ● UC Davis Civil and Environmental Engineering Department ● Resin Research Epoxy Systems ● UC Davis Electrical and Computer Engineering Department ● UC Davis College of Engineering ● Sacramento Municipal Utility District

Electrical Lead Justin Kim explains the design of the electrical system to SMUD judges. (Photo by Jason Moore)

Steering lead and frisbee captain Evan Anderson leads the team in a cheer during the slalom race. (Photo by Trevor Metz)

Fall quarter hulls lead Shane Hunter pilots the boat back to the docking area after the slalom event. (Photo by Trevor Metz)

Officers and sub-team leads explain the design of the boat to judges during the presentation event. From left to right: Melissa Ng, Shane Hunter, Justin Kim, Evan Anderson, Trevor Metz, and Marty Allgeier. (Photo by Jason Moore)

Paul Meranian and Cameron Morelli give pilot Melissa Ng a push after a pilot switch during the endurance race. (Photo by Paul Ng)

The team receives first place trophies for Technical Design and Boat Design. (Photo by Paul Ng)

The Davis Solar Boat team poses behind their 2018 boat, Sol Invictus, with their four trophies for Best Technical Design, Best Boat Design, Best Artistic Design, and the Spirit Award. Back row: Jack Anderson, Trevor Metz, Allan Saghbini, Evan Anderson, Marty Allgeier, Seth Garner, Zhaoning Chen, Paul Meranian, Jason Moore, and Naveen Gowrishankar. Front Row: Shane Hunter, Melissa Ng, Justin Hoohuli, Melissa Quijada, Carrina Iacobacci, Rufino Hernandez, Justin Kim, Jasmine Muniz, Nicholas Magnasco, Raquel Keil, Cameron Morelli, and David Edgar. (Photo by Paul Ng)

President Marty Allgeier (banana) leads a post-competition cheer. (Photo by Jason Moore)