Does your school have a class dedicated to FSAE? How is it structured?

[Gr8Flux]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone who's school offers an FSAE specific class can share with me any information they have regarding how that class is structured. My team has suffered poor continuity and organization since its birth, where we haven't gone to competition in years, and I want to try and change that. One thing I observed from leading our team this year is the balance of school work tends to take presidence, rightfully so, over the car. I'm hopeful that by offering a class which gives useful credit, and a grade, we can improve the organization and completion of various projects associated with the car. I know many schools offer a class, so how does that work?

My school has a need for an additional senior design class, and I'm hopeful I can put together a well organized plan that the director can get on board with. Any thoughts or opinions welcomed! A copy of your syllabus and/or class description would also be appreciated. You can email it to me directly if you like - teamwazzuracing@gmail.com

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Claude Rouelle]

If I am in favor of university courses that would somewhat help students to better understand good engineering fundamentals (fluid dynamics, vehicle dynamics, engineering design - BTW When most design judges look at FS cars that seems the biggest whole in the students education: pretty good FEA and CAD courses but no real attention given on design fundamentals and that is how and why you end up having rod ends in bending and suspension pickup points right in a middle of a tube -, control loops, kinematics, physics etc..), I pretty ambivalent about specific FSAE/FS courses for the simple reason that FS car concept, simulation, drawings, machining, assembling, testing, failure analysis and development etc....must come from within the team creativity and willingness to educate them selves more than from academic courses.

I believe in inside-out solutions (from each team individual and the group power of imagination and discipline towards the team and car design - and from your question the team building and especially its continuity seems to be a concern)) more than outside-in solutions (the teacher telling you what to do).

It seems your team may need leadership and that is not going to be given by one teacher or in one academic course: It has to come from some of you.

I do not find any better way to express this by asking you to watch the 3 golden circles (Why, How, What) video of Simon Sinek: another excellent TED Talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4

I am quite ambivalent about students receiving credit for FSAE work. It depends of each team and university culture but the danger of this credit allowance is that students will do just what they need to do to get the credits, not much more and won't necessarily be fully passionate and determined by their team search of excellence and their car reliability and performance. Ultimately that would be only a partial achievement of what Formula Student goal is: learn by doing. If the WHY (see previously mentioned video) is missing your team will "just' be like 95 % of other team and probably not a winner (winner in the sense of achieving the best you can) and it won't prepare you either the best possible way for an engineering career.

After so many years of FSAE / FS design judging it has become clear to me that the best car and performances are not necessarily created by team coming from university which are internationally known to be teaching the best academic courses (Harvard, MIT, Yale, Princeton as examples) or claiming to be the entry level for Formula One jobs (Oxford Brookes, Cranfield) because these universities, although excellent, are concentrated in the education and placement of strong individuals that will continue to promote their establishment reputation (and recruitment) but do not concentrate as much on team building, team work and team success. Successful FS / FSAE team winning teams focus on team building THEN car performance, not the other way around.

It has to come from within.

[Gr8Flux]

I appreciate the perspective, Claude. And I think you're right, it does have to come from within. My struggle has mostly been in managing and organizing the team. I've helped bring the team to where we are, and I certainly emphasize the team aspect of the club. Unfortunately myself and our president this year have had a hard time in determining the best way to organize the team. I'm hopeful that a class structure would teach the students how to better organize and plan a project. That is, place a few key deadlines and make the students determine the rest. Help them understand that good engineering means making the decision to focus on improving part x in exchange for part y being a little more basic for the sake of getting the job done in a timely manner and accomplishing the goals.

I suppose I foresee leadership issues being a continued problem and I hope that a class structure would facilitate the growth of the club by bringing in the extra pieces. By having someone who's sole job is to tell them when they've spent too much time on something, and not enough on something else. And by having someone who is consistently available for direction. Most importantly I hope that a class would help build better leaders so this knowledge can be effectively shared with a larger group of people.

[Claude Rouelle]

Scott,

" I'm hopeful that a class structure would teach the students how to better organize and plan a project. "

There I am 100 % with you: FSAE or not, that is THE Course that is missing in universities.

Such a course would help for sure but, you can find such education in good books or on the internet but, again it has to come from within.

"In the end, it is important to remember that we cannot become what we need to be by remaining what we are." Max De Pree

There are 2 kind of leaders: the ones who manage and the ones who inspire. Guess what need to come first?

Claude