Student-designed “Manganese Prime” qualifies for AIChE Chem-E-Car finals

Continuing the fine tradition of its predecessors, “Manganese Prime,” the latest chemically-powered shoebox sized-vehicle designed by City College of New York engineering students, is headed to AIChE's Chem-E-Car Competition® in Orlando, Florida, this fall. It placed fourth out of 22 entries at the AIChE Mid-Atlantic regionals at Penn State University to earn CCNY a seventh-consecutive trip to the finals against foreign and domestic competitors.

The requirement at the regionals was to make the car stop at the 17-meter line without any additional weight added to the car. The car has to be run and stopped by a chemical reaction and is not allowed to cost more than $2,000 to build. Manganese Prime was powered by a reaction involving manganese.

“Our car came within 1.67m of the finish line and, of course, as is tradition, we received the team spirit award,” said Ilona Kretzschmar, chair of the chemical engineering department in CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering, and Chem-E-Car team faculty advisor.

Virginia Tech, SUNY Stonybrook and the University of Pittsburgh finished first, second and third in that order. The top five teams qualified to the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) finals.

Kretzschmar and CCNY AIChE student chapter vice president Hapreet Singh accompanied Chem-E-Car team members to Penn State for the Mid-Atlantic regionals. They included (all chemical engineering majors unless indicated):

• Sara Rasmussen;
• Seemal Shehzadi;
• Milton Liguichuzca;
• Jonathan Aguirre;
• Ann Tangsampham;
• Kohitur Poheli;
• Shawon Bhuiyan;
• Wajih Tayyab (mechanical engineering); and
• Jarin Tasmin.

In CCNY's six previous trips to the Chem-E-Car Competition®, “Zincotron” placed third last year and won the   Spirit of Competition Award in Pittsburgh. There was also a second place finish in 2013 with “REAKTER,” and Spirit of Competition awards in 2014 with “Grover,” 2015 with “RuSTi,” in 2016 with “Iodonator” and in 2017 with “Sulfurious.”

About the Grove School of Engineering
CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering celebrates a century of educating engineers this year. Originally established as the School of Technology in 1919, it evolved to the School of Engineering in 1962 and was renamed The Grove School of Engineering in 2005 in honor of alumnus Andrew S. Grove, whose $26 million gift to the institution that year is the largest in CCNY’s history. A distinguished member of CCNY’s Class of 1960, Grove was a founder and former chairman of Intel Corp, one of the world’s leading producers of semiconductor chips. Today, the Grove School remains the only public school of engineering in the heart of New York City.  

About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its role at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. More than 16,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight professional schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself.  View CCNY Media Kit.