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New England Region F Conference 2009 Smith College Saturday, April 4 Northampton, MA

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Session 4: Students Redesigning the Automobile: Smith College Vehicle Design Summit     Description Founded in the spring of 2008, the Smith College Vehicle Design Summit (SCVDS) is a student-driven organization within the Picker Engineering Program to promote women in engineering through a focus in energy-efficient design practices and life-cycle awareness. SCVDS is a subdividsion of the Vehicle Design Summit based out of MIT whose objective is to create a hybrid vehicle that will obtain 100 mpg and have a 95% reduction in life-cycle costs from the Toyota Prius. Five Smith students were selected to participate in the construction of the first VDS prototype in Turin, Italy during the summer of 2008 and returned to Smith with the goal of creating a similarly aerodynamic vehicle that would showcase renewable energy technology. This presentation highlights the efforts and progress SCVDS has made toward the creation of a solar/mechanically powered vehicle.  http://www.science.smith.edu/departments/Engin/VDS/ Speakers Sari Field (class of 2009), Founder/Director Sari is an Engineering Science major, with a concentration in mechanical/ environmental engineering. She has represented VDS since the summer of 2007 when she acted as the liaison from the core organizational team based out of MIT to all the teams in India who were working on the suspension, ergonomics, steering, and breaking of the vehicle. She is the founder/director of the Smith organizational team and participates in the Design Clinic project (2008-2009) to design and optimize the suspension system for the VDS global consortium.  Sari participated in the "Torino Build Event," where she helped build the first prototype of the VDS "Vision" which was later showcased at the Torino Dream Exhibition. She received the 2008 Ford Motor Sustainability Award for her work with VDS and for her initiative to formulate the Smith team. She runs on the varsity cross-country, indoor, and outdoor track teams. Her greatest strengths are her leadership, critical thinking and analytical skills, her creativity, and her goal driven, optimistic mindset. Sari's interests include drawing, painting, writing, poetry, and playing the guitar. Whitney McMackin (class of 2010), Team Manager, Powertrain Whitney is an Engineering Science major at Smith College, with a concentration in mechanical engineering. Summer 2008, she spent her time interning with Pratt & Whitney. She speaks Swahili, studies Eastern Africa, and is a physics master tutor. Her greatest strengths are her focus, her determination, her creativity, and her charismatic attitude. Whitney's interests include amusement park ride design, drawing, photography, and traveling. Darcy Dwyer (class of 2011), Historian, Frame Darcy is pursuing a B.S. degree in Engineering Science and seeks a career in alternative energy. In addition to VDS, Darcy is a member of the varsity field hockey team, ice hockey club, and the student senate. She first became interested in engineering during the four years she spent volunteering at the Museum of Science in Boston. She also held several internships there, which varied from researching and developing an exhibit about robotics to mentoring inner-city children in the computer clubhouse. During the summer of 2008, Darcy was one of five students from Smith who participated in the "Torino Build Event" in Torino, Italy, where she helped build the first VDS prototype.   She is a hands-on learner, a hard worker, and pays close attention to detail. Her hobbies include traveling and Sudoku puzzles.

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