April 21, 2011 | WMU News
WMU's four-person team of electrical and mechanical engineering students walked away with the top spot in the first Stryker Challenge, a seven-hour competitive event held in March at Stryker Medical. The event was designed to help the company determine its best recruiting locations. The WMU engineers beat teams from the University of Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame and Purdue to capture the event's top prize.
Each team competing had approximately seven hours to design and test a vehicle that had to pick up a Stryker product and carry it through a choice of courses in the shortest time. The WMU students designed several electro-mechanical components to their vehicle that helped them complete their course in just 31 seconds. Each team member won an iPad2 and an interview with Stryker Medical.
"Western has a reputation for not only learning theory, but also being able to apply it," says Fred Sitkins, professor of industrial and manufacturing engineering and the team's organizer. "Our team performed flawlessly, and since this will be an annual event, we're excited about participating in next year's challenge to defend the WMU title."
Team advisor was Dr. Damon Miller, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. Members of the winning WMU team are:
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