Collegiate Times

Members of the Virginia Tech Motorsports group participate in building a formula racing vehicle in the lab for a competition

While such advancements are appealing, the Ware Lab is not strictly a site for innovation. Wayne Neu, faculty adviser for the human-powered submarine team, said the Ware Lab is a more general preparatory tool for his students.

“Everybody’s looking for developing the next fancy piece of hardware,” Neu said, “but it’s not so much about that. It’s about developing people. ... It’s developing engineers that have a bent for the water.”

Neu said collaborating with students fuels his position as a faculty adviser. Otherwise, the human-powered submarine team hardly finds its way onto his professional resume.

“Only the one line of ‘other activities,’” he said. “So it’s just one of those kind of service jobs.”

Baja faculty adviser Richard Goff echoed Neu.

“We feel like it’s a really valuable thing for the students to do,” Goff said. “It’s a much more engaging environment to be involved on a team like this with the students than it is to teach in a normal class.”

Kimberly Wenger worked with the Baja team as a freshman and sophomore before shifting to the Blind Driver Challenge. Engineering students can contribute as volunteers through independent studies or as part of a senior design capstone.

Since most of the projects compete each year or every few years, they must accommodate member shifts and graduation. Ware Lab manager Spangler said this mandates “information transfer.”

Some teams effectively mentor the rising generation. Goff said the Baja team has a fluid pipeline that sustains the project quality. Spangler said other teams falter, and he’s considering placing in a policy manual with the recommendation that upperclassman formally impart their knowledge to their successors.

If they do not, would Tech engineers again endure a hands-off curriculum? Though not a current concern, Wenger said the thought is unnerving.

“I couldn’t imagine sitting in a classroom for four years to learn engineering things and then actually being ready to take on a job out in the real world,” she said, “unless you just wanted to sit in a cube and chug equations for the rest of your life.”

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A version of this article appeared in the Mar 25 issue of the Collegiate Times.