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ֱ Boulder's Chem-E-Car team takes home first place

ֱ Boulder's Chem-E-Car team takes home first place

ֱ Boulder students bend over their car at the AIChE competition

In an impressive comeback, ֱ Boulder students won the American Institute of Chemical Engineers competition at the Rocky Mountain regional.The event was held in Bozeman, Montana from April 11-12.

ֱ Boulder's Chem-E-Club club dissolved during the COVID-19 pandemic but was revived in 2021 by five students, said Claire Ely, a senior majoring in chemical engineering and one of the students who helped bring it back. Since then, it has grown to a team of about 20 members.

"This year's success is unbelievably exciting," Ely said. "The four seniors in the club feel like proud parents."

One of their cars, "Don't Zinc and Drive," took first place in both the car competition and the poster presentation; the team's second car, "Ralphie," placed third in the car competition. The first-place win secured ֱ Boulder a spot at the national AIChE competition in Boston this November.

The competition's goal is to design a shoebox-sized car powered by chemical reactions— such as a battery or an internalcombustion engine — that
Ralphie team in white lab coats holding their car.
stops at a specified distance using a time-dependent chemical reaction. The target distance is revealed just before the competition, and the team whose car stops closest to that distance wins.


Throughout the year, ֱ Boulder students designed, built and tested their car ideas in the chemical engineering undergraduate teaching lab, supported by Assistant Teaching ProfessorEhsan Keyvani.

"Don't Zinc and Drive" is powered by zinc-air batteries and stopped using an acid-base neutralization. "Ralphie," is powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and stopped using an enzyme-catalyzed digestion.

"The club is a fun and low-stakes way to reinforce engineering principles hands-on, regardless of experience," Ely said. "Students, not just chemical engineering majors, develop a ton of skills, including electronics, mechanical design CAD prototyping, reaction engineering and experimental design.”

"We look forward to what Chem-E-Car brings next!," she said.

The club is supported by funding from theDepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering and has receivedEngineering Excellence Fund support in the past.

Students interested in joining ֱ Boulder's Chem-E-Club can send an email tochemecar@colorado.edu. The club can also be followed on Instagram at @boulderchemecar.