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Chaz Mancino

Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog post by Kettering freshman Charles ‘Chaz’ Mancino. Chaz, who is from Fredonia, NY, and is majoring in Mechanical Engineering, will occasionally post his thoughts about his freshman year experiences on Life at Kettering. If you’d like to write a guest blog post, e-mail phayes(at)kettering(dot)edu. Chaz’s other posts: Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Post 4 | Post 5 | Post 6 | Post 7 | Post 8 | Post 9 | Post 10 | Post 11

Two academic terms + two work terms = one year. Wow, that went fast.

What a year. I have hurdled two academic and work terms, helped build a game-changing formula SAE car, and starred in my own blog. To think, it was only last July that I entered an eager, yet somewhat timid, freshman on Kettering University’s campus. I guess the statement, “Time flies when you’re having fun,” holds true.

Let me back-up for a minute or two. Out of all of the colleges and universities that I visited and had in mind, why did I choose Kettering University? Was it due to the co-op program? The staff members and students? The cornucopia of possible opportunities? Well, it was a mixture of those things, among others. Take, for example, the opportunities that I have had to excel both in and outside of the classroom. Whether it was completing several difficult classes in just three months or building an SAE formula car that has made the competition drive away scared, I have had more than one opportunity to show the world what I have got to offer. What is more impressive is that I have done all of that in just one year. As a freshman. Amazing.

I still remember my high school teachers being eager to find out where I was going to wind up at after I graduated high school. I clearly remember one of my math teachers stopping me to ask if I had made up my mind yet. When I told her that my decision was between Kettering University and another school, she told me that she knew which one I really wanted to go to. She knew me well.

After I had made my decision, my English teacher asked me where I was going to attend college. After I told her, her reaction was that Flint is a college town. Maybe it is not a college town just yet, but with many other colleges, along with Kettering University, it is easy to see why one might think that. It is, in fact, the college students who are causing Flint to enter its Renaissance.

First off, I do not think that Flint will ever become a city bursting with energy like it once did. Oh, no, not at all. Instead, with places like Kettering University, I can see Flint emerging with a new kind of spirit that is fed by a different kind of energy. Young adults attending Kettering University who plan on making a positive impact on the world will create some of this new energy. These young adults have chosen a hard path, but they will make the Flint community and the rest of the world erupt with a bright new energy called hope. Other individuals that will make a positive impact on the world are the past and future students of Kettering University who have started or will start on building a brighter future. Just like my freshman year at Kettering University has shown, the world can be changed, if ever so slightly, in just one year. By just one person. Think about that.

Looking to my future, I can expect it to be mostly sunny with a chance of thunderstorms here and there. The next step before I enter Kettering University as a full blown sophomore is the formula SAE competition in Lincoln, Nebraska, from June 19-22, 2013. As the two previous competitions before the one in Lincoln have shown, our formula SAE car for the 2013 season is locked, loaded, and gunned towards the best formula SAE teams in the world. One can just imagine the beads of sweat that balled up on the best teams’ members’ necks as our comeback car breathed down their cars’ backs during the last two competitions, and the Kettering University Formula SAE team hopes to have another competition just like that.

Along with looking forward to the SAE competition in Lincoln, I can also look forward to coming home and visiting with friends and family before I embark on another academic term. Just like this past year, I fully expect to be immersed in classwork and studying during the academic terms while being hard at work during the work terms. I also hope to take on a bigger role on the formula SAE team. As I gain knowledge from the academic terms, I will be able to apply it to both the formula car and my co-op. After three months of school, I will migrate back to my co-op and start working five days a week again. Then school again. Then work. Then school, and so on and so forth. What the upcoming school year will bring is well beyond me, but I know that I will continue to satisfy my hunger for knowledge and experience as I crawl up in life and become a C.E.O., an entrepreneur, or the greatest engineer that the world has ever seen.

As the sun sets on another school year, I am still very excited because I know that it will rise again. My life will change, as it always has, with a new year that is aching to be discovered, waiting to be opened like a gift on Christmas. Whatever it may bring, I will be ready. After all, what is in a year? Maybe the better question is what is in a day, as the time between when the sun rises and sets brings a multitude of surprises and changes that mimic the kinds of surprises and changes that run rampantly throughout a year. Those surprises and changes will ignite emotions and ideas that will erupt from the minds of many individuals with a common goal of improving the world.

The sun has set. Good night, Kettering University. See you in the morning.

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Chaz Mancino

Editor’s Note: This is a guest blog post by Kettering freshman Charles ‘Chaz’ Mancino. Chaz, who is from Fredonia, NY, and is majoring in Mechanical Engineering, will occasionally post his thoughts about his freshman year experiences on Life at Kettering. If you’d like to write a guest blog post, e-mail phayes(at)kettering(dot)edu. Chaz’s other posts: Post 1 | Post 2 | Post 3 | Post 4 | Post 5 | Post 6 | Post 7 | Post 8 | Post 9 | Post 10

Blue body panels sporting white tear-drop graphics lie on top of a white painted metal skeleton, the white tear-drops symbolizing the tears that the members of the other teams have in their eyes as car 101 zooms past them. The words “Kettering University” spread the sides of the car with the front end brandishing the bulldog symbol itself.

The Yamaha WR450 engine roars in the back of the car. The car named GMI2013 was in action at Michigan International Speedway between May 8 and 11, 2013, competing against 107 other teams from around the world.

So how well did GMI2013 from Kettering University do against so many teams, including some of the world’s best, at Michigan International Speedway? After placing 56th in the business report, 37th in acceleration, 34th in skidpad, top 10 in design, sixth in the cost report and taking home the gold in fuel efficiency and powertrain development, Kettering University Formula SAE had its best showing in history, even besting the GMI days.

Fifteenth. That is right. Fifteenth place. Overall. Out of 107 teams. With having one of the smallest teams and budgets. Looks like car 101 has schooled the competition.Of course, the team’s history-making finish was as easy as teaching a flying squirrel how to fly. After spending the summer testing last year’s car for improvements that could be made, designing the 2013 car, building the 2013 car from the ground up from the chassis all the way to the body panels, and testing the 2013 car before competition to make sure everything was in proper working condition, it’s safe to say countless hours went into making the 2013 car a reality. Special thank yous are of course given to all of the team’s sponsors, including Yamaha, Denso, Kennametal and the GM Foundation, among others, along with all of the support of the individuals who helped make GMI2013 a success.

Of course, the competition at Michigan International Speedway was not the only time that the Yamaha WR450-powered racecar took on the world. Formula North in Canada followed up the outstanding performance at Michigan International Speedway and another competition to be held in Lincoln, Neb., will be the last of the three competitions set for the season. Formula North was held from May 23-26 and the competition in Lincoln will be held from June 19-22.What seemed like a Cinderella story at Michigan International Speedway became a reality at Formula North as the Kettering University Formula SAE team went from being a ho-hum competitor to a team that is breathing down the backs of world-class teams. In the city of Barrie, Ontario, the Kettering University Formula SAE team took home the silver in static events with a second place finish in both the cost and business events and an eighth place finish in the design event.

Add that to a very competitive fifth place finish in dynamic events with a first place finish in the fuel efficiency event, seventh place finishes in both the acceleration and endurance events, and 12th and 19thplace finishes in the autocross and skidpad events, respectively, and one has a podium finish for the Kettering University Formula SAE team.After the results were tallied up, the Kettering University Formula SAE team took home a third place finish overall, falling only to École de Technologie Supérieure (ETS) from Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Tallin University of Applied Science from Tallin, Estonia, both being two of the best teams in the world. The Kettering University Formula SAE team’s third place finish was the best finish of any team without wings and even bested several teams with wings.

What is even more impressive is that the Kettering University Formula SAE team pulled a great showing at Formula North with, as stated before, a small team and microscopic budget when compared to the world’s best formula SAE teams.Another impressive feat that highlights the Kettering University Formula SAE team is that it is made up of a group of college students who can work together despite being separated by possibly more than 100 miles during the school year while away on co-op terms. With all of the teamwork, support from sponsors, and initiative to not sleep until the car was race-ready, the Kettering University Formula SAE team has managed to become a threat to the world’s standouts in formula SAE.

In other words, Kettering University Formula SAE has come charging out of the woodwork locked, loaded and aimed for the world’s best formula SAE teams.Mobile. Agile. Hostile. Those three words blast in my head when I recall my old high school’s cross country team’s chant. Those three words can now describe Kettering University Formula SAE’s rapid, almost unexpected rise to the top of the heap of the world of formula SAE teams. As both competitions thus far have shown, GMI2013 is hungry for victory, andLincoln will be another great chance to show off the car in action and will cap off a year of hard work just as a big, juicy, red cherry caps off a sundae. However, the taste of victory will be much sweeter than the cool taste of ice cream and a hot topping complemented by a cherry, nuts, sprinkles and whip cream.

Whether the Kettering University Formula SAE team will become a world contender is yet to be seen. For now, the team has managed to threaten several world competitors and turn heads everywhere. As members of the Kettering University Formula SAE team crossed the border back to the USA with stomachs full of poutine and Tim Horton’s, eyes were set on the competition in Lincoln, Neb., and finishing up the season with a fireworks-worthy finish.

Continue reading »]]> Billy Lindeman recently talked with MLive’s Blake Thorne about a new product he’s building, Ember:

Hook it to a light bulb and dim the kitchen lights from the couch. Snap it to the thermostat and check the temperature from your phone.

“Your phone is the best interface you have and you always have it with you, so you might as well use it to control everything around you,” said Billy Lindeman, a 23-year-old computer science major at Kettering University behind the project.

Continue reading »]]> Kettering University student Kevin Loughlin was recently interviewed by a disc golf recreation website about the pastime:

Kevin Loughlin, 19, began playing disc golf about four years ago. The 2011 Brandon High School graduate now attends Kettering University in Flint, but during the summer, plays the sport 2-3 times a week, usually at Holly Recreation Area, Baycourt Park in Clarkston, or at Seymour Lake Park in Oxford.

“The best part is hanging out with friends and it’s cheap,” said Loughlin. “It’s pretty easy to get into, there are a lot of different techniques and throws you can learn and there is always room to improve. In just my couple years of playing, disc golf has really increased in popularity and a lot of parks are flooded with people. It would be fun to play another course and spread people out so they wouldn’t be as busy… There are plenty of parks where walking paths go through and everyone is respectful of each other.”

Continue reading »]]> Dr. Laura Sullivan from the ME Department will continue the Distinguished Faculty Speaker Series on Thursday, May 9th at 12:25pm when she presents: “Humanitarian Aid Engineering: Problem Solving Without a Textbook”.\

Dr. Sullivan founded and continues to lead the Kettering Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Since its inception this group has been sharing their engineering skills locally and globally.

All faculty, staff, and students are welcome to attend, and lunch will be served to the first 100 people.

Location: 2-225 AB from 12:25 – 1:15 pm

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Kettering University graduate Brian Falther and current student Austin Lawrence recently had their startup, Future Tech Farm, featured in an article in The New York Times:

Enter Future Tech Farms, the high-tech gardening brainchild of Brian Falther and his business partner, Austin Lawrence. The two mechanical engineers are trying to develop a network of indoor gardening pods, hooked up via phone or home Wi-Fi, to a social pod network, which would share information on the most effective growing conditions.

“The whole goal is to create a food production format for the world that is ecologically sustainable, energy sustainable and carbon neutral,” said Mr. Falther, a 2010 graduate of Kettering University in Flint, Mich., where Mr. Lawrence is a senior. “I don’t know why everyone isn’t doing this.”

Why indeed? The small self-contained pods would collect data on water temperature, light, pH levels and such. Then the information on what works best could be shared on the network, making it easier for newcomers and participants to garden, Mr. Falther said.

The two have more than $30,000 in start-up money and are hoping that someday their pods will be as familiar a sight in homes as refrigerators and televisions.

Continue reading »]]> Unless noted, screenings in the FOMA Film Series begin at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at the Flint Institute of Arts, 1120 E. Kearsley St. Admission at the door is $6 for non-members, $5 for FIA members, $4 FOMA members. Details: (810) 234-1695, flintarts.org.

May 3-5: Beyond the Hills

(Romania-France-Belgium, 2012)  Directed by Cristian Mungiu, 150 min., subtitled, not rated

Two longtime friends are reunited at a secluded convent in Romania where spiritual rebellion prompts a drastic response. Akin to The Exorcist, this tale of revenge and unrequited love                                                                           from the maker of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is “quietly devastating,” writes Rolling Stone.

May 10-12: Gimme the Loot

(U.S., 2012)  Directed by Adam Leon, 81 min., not rated

Two teenage graffiti artists scheme to paint-“bomb” a Big Apple landmark: the New York Mets baseball team’s famed “home run apple.” This exuberant comedy about the quest for celebrity is an impressive debut feature for writer-director Adam Leon.

May 17-19: Lore

(Germany-Australia-U.K., 2012)  Directed by Cate Shortland, 109 min., subtitled, not rated

In a World War II drama based on Rachel Seiffert’s novel The Dark Room, the daughter of  Nazis arrested by Allied forces ventures across Germany with her four younger siblings, only to find that a young Jewish refugee may be their only hope of survival.

May 24-26: Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

(Germany, 2012)  Directed by Werner Herzog, 90 min., not rated

Master filmmaker Werner Herzog continues his remarkable run of documentaries with a study of the indigenous people living in the heart of Siberia, whose daily routines and cultural traditions have charged little over the past century. “Priceless” was Roger Ebert’s description of the film.

May 30-31 and June 2: Bless Me, Ultima

(U.S., 2013)  Directed by Carl Franklin, 106 min., rated PG-13

Based on Rudolfo Anaya’s controversial novel, this poignant 1940s-set drama focuses on the relationship between a young Mexican-American man and an elderly medicine woman who helps him contend with the battle between good and evil that rages in his New Mexico village.

(Note special Thursday screening on May 30 at 7:30 p.m. There is no show Saturday, June 1.)

Also in May at the FIA: The Karen Schneider Jewish Film Festival of Flint (with Hava Nagila: The Movie (May 5), The Other Son (May 6), Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story (May 7), A Bottle in the Gaza Sea (May 8) and AKA Doc Pomus (May 9). All screenings at 7 p.m.; admission is $5 per film. Presented by the FIA and the Flint Jewish Federation.

Continue reading »]]> Kettering University Mechanical Engineering professor Dr. Greg Davis recently discussed engineering education with SAE International. From the story:

Hands-on learning is an invaluable component of engineering education. According to Kettering University professor Gregory Davis, who is also the school’s Director of the Automotive Engine Research Laboratory, college students “need to be challenged to study the complex interactions of real engineering systems.”

And one way to challenge the minds of college students is via the SAE Collegiate Design Series, which include Supermileage, Baja SAE, Clean Snowmobile, Aero Design, as well as Formula Hybrid, Formula Electric, and Formula SAE. All these competitions involve teamwork centered on the tasks of designing and building a vehicle.

“One of the benefits I see with the (SAE) challenges is these events really allow the students to apply principles that they’re learning in school—maybe in isolated classes—and weave those ideas together to solve a real problem,” said Davis.

Continue reading »]]> Kettering University President Robert McMahan has regular office hours each term for students interested in meeting with him. His student office hours schedule is posted on this website. Bookmark that site for the most up-to-date schedule. Here is his current spring schedule:

Student Office Hours
(Spring Term, 2013)

Meet with President McMahan in his office located in the Campus Center.