2001
Dec 5, 2000
Students start on paper sails in hopes of netting $15,000
May 22, 1999
UNIVERSITY
OF MAINE STUDENTS TRIUMPH IN PAPER KAYAK COMPETITION, COLLECT $15,000
PRIZE
Students from Across the Nation Making Final Preparations to Paper Kayak to Vie for $20,000 in Prizes
January 19, 1999
Students Building Paper Kayak in Hopes
of sailing to $15,000 Prize
September 12, 1998
Students from Across Nation Vie for
Energy Challenge '98 Title, Get Lesson in Design Efficiency
September 3, 1998
Egg-Ceptional Students Hope Packaging
Will Yield $15,000 Award
September 24, 1997
Students from Across the Nation get a
Lesson in Pulp and Paper as They Prepare for Energy Challenge '98
NEWS MEDIA CONTACTS:
U.S. Department of Energy
Sarah Manion
office, 303/275-4709
cellular, 303/475-6202;
pager, 888-642-9904
e-mail: sarah_manion@nrel.gov
University of Maine
Joe Carr
Office: 207/581-3743
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
STUDENTS TRIUMPH IN PAPER KAYAK COMPETITION, COLLECT $15,000 PRIZE
May 22, 1999 - The student team from the University of Maine won top
honors and a $15,000 award today at the Energy Challenge ’99 competition
held at Sweetwater Creek State Park near Atlanta, Ga.
The University of Maine captured 1st place by having the highest overall score based on the best kayak performance during today’s timed race, written reports, safety considerations and meeting size and weight specifications.
Senior Jaime Morin, majoring in Chemical Engineering, paddled the paper kayak 300 meters in three minutes and six seconds, beating the second fastest kayak by 36 seconds. Morin was the only female competitor in the race. The team manufactured the components of the kayak, which was a unique aspect of their project and were judged to have the best overall kayak design. Out of the six team members, all are majoring in chemical engineering except for one who is majoring in mechanical engineering major.
“The main drive of the race for us is that we wanted to beat last year’s first place team, the University of Colorado,” said team member Jaime Morin. Team captain, Chad Allen, added, “this was a great chance to apply technical things in a fun way.”
The team from the University of Colorado at Denver placed second, securing the $3,000 prize and Miami University in Ohio team came in third, receiving $2,000. The prize money will be given to the winning teams’ colleges, which will decide how the money is to be used. The University of Maine will be using the $15,000 for 15 new computers for the chemical engineering laboratory.
Energy Challenge ‘99, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Institute of Paper Science and Technology, involved college teams designing, constructing and racing a one-person kayak made exclusively from paper products that can include wood fiber, wood pulp, secondary wood cellulose, linerboard, corrugated board and commonly used paper chemicals. Teams were also required to design the kayak to meet size specifications of no more than nine feet long, 2.5 feet wide and 35 pounds in weight.
The purpose of Energy Challenge '99 was to foster education and awareness of manufacturing design efficiency, packaging technology, waste minimization and pulp and paper industrial processes. The competition correlates with DOE's Agenda 2020 -- a program to enhance the economic competitiveness of the U.S. forest products industry and to help the pulp and paper industry reach the vision of more energy efficient manufacturing processes by the year 2020.
Schools that competed in Energy Challenge '99 included: Georgia Institute of Technology, Miami University in Ohio, Mississippi State University, the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, the University of Colorado at Denver, the University of Maine and the University of Minnesota at St. Paul.
