Happy Tuesday everyone! We’re back with our second interview from the Solar Splash Competition in Springfield, Ohio. This was a 5 day competition to test out which college, national and international, had the best solar boat! This second interview is with the University of New Mexico Solar Boat Team and we’re excited for you get know two of the team members: Ramon (Ray) Reyes and Leonardo (Leo) Rossetti.
As a re-cap, some of our team at the UPS Battery Center blog, myself included, had the amazing opportunity of being attendees for the last two days of the Solar Splash 2018 competition! On these two days, we watched the endurance races and the sprint races and got to talk to some amazing team members! As previous mentioned, today you’ll be learning more about Ray and Leo. Ray is a mechanical engineering undergraduate student at UNM university and he joined the solar boat team as part of his senior project! Leo graduated from UNM’s electrical engineering program in 2017 and has just finished his first year of graduate school in electro-magnetics.
Location: Solar Splash 2018 Competition (Clark County Fairground Lake in Springfield, Ohio)*.
Question #1: Feelings about the Competition
Having spoken to the team members previously in the months preceding the competition, I learned that the UNM Solar boat team was the only one of its kind! So I asked them how they felt being at the competition and the kind of pressures they were facing. Their team is the only one that has ever competed in the Solar Splash competition and this was their first time on the team!
Q: How has the experience been for you building this boat and working with your team?
Ray: “It’s been really great. I came in to this experience not sure what to expect but I learned a lot. I love working with the team and the director and it was a great learning and educational experience.”
Leo: “Yeah the experience was great, I learned a ton of stuff working with the electric mechanical engineers. I learned stuff i never knew about. They did so many collaborations and so many interfacing parts. It was really nice having these hands on and real world experiences that you don’t really get elsewhere. You realize that you don’t really know everything and it was a great learning experience.”
Question #2: On Hopes and Achievements for the Competition
On the 3rd day of the competition, the UNM Solar Boat Team received the Workmanship award so then I transitioned to asking them about their expectations for the competition and how they felt about the award.
Q: What kind of expectations did you have coming into this year’s competition? Were you hoping to receive the workmanship award or anything else?
Ray: “I think we really came in looking for first place. I think we did a lot of hard work this year. We used the same Hull from last year so we were able to pay attention and key in on other aspects of the race to help us get better.”
Leo added that they had their eyes on first place as “Cedarville’s had that spot for some time now and we think we’re hoping we could be up there too this year. Leo also spoke of the difficulties of starting a program like this in the university since no one else had done it in their state, “I think one of the most important things we should be doing is getting the word out about our program and the competition so that other students get excited to join and to want to join our team. We really want this to be a legacy project that we can continue to build in.”
I definitely think it will be a legacy!
Question #3: Plans for the Future
Nearing the end of the interview, we spoke a bit about Ray and Leo’s future and summer plans.
Q: So my final question I guess, is what are your plans for the summer, for the next few years? Are you currently working or do you plan to be? I know Leo is currently in graduate school but how about you Ray?
Ray: “I have an internship with Sandia National Labratories and I plan to continue working with them so those are my plans for the near future.” Talk about impressive!
Leo: “As I said before, I am currently in graduate school. My future goals are project management which is why I got involved with this. I like the idea of leading a project and actually making something. So I plan to continue on to my PhD which will make graduating a long time from now but yeah I’m excited.” Well we’re excited for you!
I am very thankful Ray and Leo for spending time with me and answering my questions! We, at the UPS Battery Center blog wish them two the best of luck with their plans and goals!
*This interview was done before the end of the competition*
Hope you enjoyed getting to know the Ray and Leo a bit more! If you’d like to check out more about the New Mexico team then check out their website here: https://unmsolarsplash.com/our-team/
Related:
Sherbrooke Hyperion Solar Boat Interview
