New Motorsports Capstone Design Course announced, receives donation from The Reid Family Foundation

At its autumn 2011 External Advisory Board meeting, the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) announced the launch of the Motorsports Capstone Design Course. Each undergraduate student in the College of Engineering is required to complete a capstone design project prior to graduation. The Motorsports Capstone Design Course, based upon projects from Ohio State's motorsports teams, is one of several themed capstone opportunities available to engineering students. The course lasts a full academic year and is designed to be a hands-on, open-ended introduction to the design process. Students begin the program with a traditional classroom experience to learn the fundamentals of engineering design and other important professional skills. After this phase, students work in groups for several months under the supervision of a faculty or staff member to complete an ambitious design-build-test project. Students learn valuable skills in design, engineering communication, and teamwork as they progress through a rigorous design process on a real-world problem. The course culminates in a college-wide exhibition in which industry judges evaluate each of the project team's efforts. There are currently 22 engineering undergraduate seniors participating in the Motorsports Capstone Course during this inaugural academic year.

Industry sponsors provide much needed financial support to enable resource intensive projects. Sponsors are encouraged to be actively involved as technical advisors and receive key updates on the status of the projects.  Industry sponsors also receive resume portfolios of all students involved in the motorsports capstone projects to support targeted recruiting efforts.

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he first donation toward the Motorsports Capstone Design Course comes from The Reid Family Foundation, based out of Auburn Hills, Michigan. The foundation is a private, non-profit organization that gives back to the community through grant making programs and provides educational, hands-on learning opportunities, for children and adults. It seeks to support educational, non-profit programs that include, but are not limited to those that enhance opportunities for self-sufficiency, inspire higher achievement and promote engineering. Its founder, Glenn Reid, is a graduate of Ohio State's Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, whom went on to establish Flexible Products Company.

The $12,000 donation check was presented at the autumn 2011 External Advisory board meeting. These funds will be used to provide support for the fabrication of motorsports capstone prototypes and for the testing of these prototypes. This could include such things as raw materials for machining, purchased automotive components, instrumentation for making engineering measurements to test the prototypes, as well as a portion to provide staff to support the projects.

More information on The Reid Family Foundation can be found at http://reidfamilyfoundation.com/.
More information on Flexible Products Company.
See our motorsports page for information on our student-led motorsports teams.

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