CU Boulder Formula SAE Team
Aug 21’ – May 23’
Overview
Member of the CU Boulder Formula SAE team for the final two years of undergraduate study, contributing primarily on the chassis subteam while supporting manufacturing, competition preparation, and visual design efforts. Involved across multiple vehicle systems and trusted with competition-day readiness and inspection support.
Year 1 — Manufacturing Support & Visual Design
Learned vehicle systems through hands-on fabrication and assembly work.
Built control arm jigs to support accurate and repeatable suspension manufacturing.
Updated vehicle numbers, school branding, and graphic layout to comply with Formula SAE regulations while improving overall presentation.
Assisted with content preparation to support team outreach and recruitment.
Year 2 — Fabrication Ownership, Cross-Team Support & Competition Readiness
Engineered control arm designs from provided suspension geometry, ensuring team standards for factor of safety, stiffness, packaging, and manufacturability were met.
Supported the transition from a pull-rod to push-rod front suspension layout by updating control-arm hardware and associated mounting features while preserving kinematic intent.
Served as a technical resource for newer members, explaining design decisions, fabrication practices, and common failure points to watch for during build and inspection.
Fabricated brake lines, seat floor, and firewall components and completed welding tasks across the chassis as needed to close integration gaps.
Assisted the powertrain subteam with fitment and packaging issues when subsystem conflicts arose.
One of four members granted full competition-area access due to broad system familiarity and reliability in resolving on-site issues.
Performed final vehicle inspections prior to track release, verifying that fasteners, interfaces, and safety-critical systems were ready for operation.
Competition Impact
Part of the small group responsible for final vehicle checks before every on-track session, performing detailed inspections to ensure all safety-critical systems, fasteners, and interfaces were ready.
Made small setup adjustments based on driver feedback, including tire pressure changes and minor ride-height tweaks to maintain consistent handling throughout the event.
Used prior competition experience to anticipate common technical inspection issues and correct them early in the process.
Helped the team progress smoothly through technical inspection, contributing to a 20th overall finish out of 100+ teams, the strongest result in team history at the time.
Engineering Takeaways — Formula SAE
Developed a working understanding of how major vehicle subsystems interact, including suspension, braking, powertrain packaging, and chassis integration, and how decisions in one area propagate through the entire car.
Designed suspension hardware in SolidWorks within large, tightly constrained assemblies, ensuring moving components maintained required clearances throughout full travel.
Used SolidWorks FEA to evaluate stress and factor of safety, iterating designs to balance strength, weight, and manufacturability.
Designed components with fabrication methods in mind, accounting for welding access, fixturing, assembly tolerances, and serviceability.
Learned to operate within given kinematic and rule constraints while engineering hardware that met performance, safety, and inspection requirements.
Presented and defended design decisions during team design reviews and to external judges, explaining tradeoffs in performance, packaging, reliability, and manufacturability.
Developed inspection-driven thinking by identifying common failure modes and compliance risks early in the design cycle.
Gained experience mentoring younger team members, communicating design intent, and helping others understand why specific changes were necessary.
Strengthened cross-disciplinary collaboration by working closely with powertrain and manufacturing teams to resolve subsystem conflicts.
Built confidence troubleshooting integrated vehicle systems under time pressure during competition.
