Polytechnic University students get 1st place in SAE Aerospace competition
A team made up of eight mechanical engineering students from the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico won First Place Overall and First Place Regular Class Mission Performance at the SAE Aero Design West competition, held by the Society of Automotive Engineers this past weekend in California.
The aircraft, with a “highly innovative design, perfectly carried out the established flights and requested missions, which made them obtain the first prizes among more than 50 universities competing,” school officials said.
The participating students were Gabriel Altuz, Eduardo Siberio, Joel López, Diego Ortíz, Alana Corahanis, Diego Santiago, Jammyl Andino and Sergio Urbina, who were directed by Prof. José Pertierra from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department.
The team entered the competition following a successful participation in 2020, when they also won prizes. This experience allowed them to establish the competition strategy to get first place, beating prestigious institutions from around the world, school officials added.
“These first-prizes in a world-class competition reaffirm the quality and knowledge of our students and professors in the Aerospace Mechanical Engineering program, and validate it as one of international excellence,” said Carlos Gonzalez-Miranda, dean of the School of Engineering.
“We’re very proud that our students have obtained first places in such a prestigious competition, where the knowledge and talent of the best universities in the United States and the world were measured,” said Ernesto Vázquez-Martínez, interim president of the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.
“There’s no better result than successfully putting into practice the knowledge acquired in the classroom,” he said.
