Author: Kelsey Josund

  • Testing Sundae

    Our team motto is “Test it again”, and we’ve certainly been trying to do that! For Sundae we decided to shift our test schedule so race crew training, strategy model validation, and other testing are biased towards Australia. Nothing prepares you for driving through the Outback in a race like driving through the Outback! But…

  • Introducing Sundae

    On Saturday July 1 we unveiled our 2017 car, Sundae. It is the smallest car this team has ever built in accordance with the new rules for the 2017 World Solar Challenge, which only allow for four square meters of silicon solar cells, and has an aggressive aerobody with more optimization than we have applied…

  • Williams Advanced Engineering

    Williams Advanced Engineering

      Thanks to Williams Advanced Engineering for hosting us at their facilities in Oxfordshire for a fascinating workshop and design review! We spent two days discussing aerodynamics, composites, vehicle dynamics, program management and vehicle integration and instrumentation with their engineers and also had the opportunity to tour their design and manufacturing facilities and a collection of…

  • Spring Quarter Stanford Solar Car

    The rules are out and so is school, so we’re diving into a summer of hard work and research. But we’ve been working hard for all of last quarter, too! Read on to find out more about what we’ve been up to. Early in the quarter, we took Arctan out for a test drive in the…

  • Stanford + Connects Bay Area

    Stanford + Connects Bay Area

    Last weekend, we had the opportunity to display Arctan at Stanford + Connects Bay Area, a great event showcasing research and projects going on at Stanford and providing a chance to network with alumni. After driving Arctan across campus, we spent the day hanging out next to MARTY, the autonomous drifting DeLorean, and sharing automotive…

  • Epiphany Hotel Showcase

    Today we spent the afternoon displaying Arctan in front of the Epiphany Hotel in downtown Palo Alto. It was great to chat with local families and business people enjoying their Friday afternoon!

  • What have we been up to winter quarter?

    We can’t believe the first quarter of this new cycle is already almost over! But as dead week and finals week fall upon us, SSCP is hard at work. These past few months we’ve been very busy recruiting new members and building up a new team, reaching out to sponsors and expanding our relationship with existing…

  • Emerson Collective article

      Thanks to our sponsor Emerson Collective for writing this great piece about our team and our process! It was a great experience to work with their reporter, who came by our shop several times and really got to know the team, and we like how well they represented our philosophy and the impact of…

  • Taking Arctan for a weekend drive…

    This Saturday we took Arctan for a spin around campus to visit a Society of Women Engineers outreach event for local high schoolers. Even after being shipped across the ocean and hanging out at our lab for a couple months, Arctan drove just fine, answering first question we were asked in the Q&A: “can it…

  • Thanks to Cathay Pacific!

    Cathay Pacific helped us by shipping our car to Australia before the race, giving us five extra weeks to work on it that we would not have had if it had been shipped by boat. Check out this article in their in-flight magazine about how they helped us! Thank you, Cathay Pacific!

  • New Cycle, New Leadership

    Introducing our 2016-17 cycle leadership team! Kelsey Josund – Team Lead (Computer Science 2016 & 2018) Max Drach – Engineering Lead (Computer Science 2017) Gawan Fiore – Strategy Lead (Computer Science 2016 & 2018) Kate Pregler – Electrical Lead (Electrical Engineering 2017) Brandon Solis – Code Lead (Computer Science 2017) Anna Olson & Rachel Abril…

  • World Solar Challenge: Day Five

    We made it to the finish line! Anna T drove Arctan into downtown Adelaide in sixth place after the team executed a perfect race. We woke up for the earliest sunrise yet at 5:35 am event time and played pump up music from the Chase vehicle’s speakers while we ate breakfast and did array standing.…

  • World Solar Challenge Day in the Life

    World Solar Challenge Day in the Life

    World Solar Challenge Details Every day, we drive from 8am to 5pm, stopping only at designated 30-minute control stops. These are usually gas stations, but occasionally just parking lots, and are located every 200 to 400 kilometers along the Stuart Highway. We get out to stretch our legs, use the bathroom, and refill support vehicles…

  • World Solar Challenge: Day Four

    World Solar Challenge: Day Four

    Since we’ve been traveling south, the daylight hours are longer, which means earlier wakeup times for array standing. The morning of Day Four brought our earliest sunrise yet, around 5:54am, so we were up at 5:20 to get ready to take full advantage of the early morning rays. By now we are comfortable maneuvering the…

  • World Solar Challenge: Day Three

    World Solar Challenge: Day Three

    Today we traveled from north of Alice Springs to past the South Australia border. The parents joining our convoy treated us to a lovely omelet breakfast, then headed straight to Alice Springs separate from the main convoy to restock on fresh produce and meat for the next couple days. Meanwhile, the convoy set cruise to high 80s and reached…

  • World Solar Challenge: Day One

    World Solar Challenge: Day One

    Day one of the World Solar Challenge is done! We made it to the second control stop, Dunmarra, just as the racing day was ending, pulling in at 4:56pm. There were two other teams, Megalux and Punch Powertrain, who joined us in Dunmarra for the night where we stayed at a roadhouse campground. Our first…

  • Performance Driving Australia

    For the first time, this cycle we brought in a professional to teach us about driving — both in convoys and as a solar car. For three of the days the team was in Darwin, Michael Busby of Performance Driving Australia was at our disposal to help us all become better drivers, whether that meant…

  • Summer 2015: Testing Arctan

    Arctan has now air shipped off to Australia and team members have flown to meet it, so we have time to take a breath and reflect on our busy summer! Like previous summers before WSC, the team unveiled its new car to the public and set about testing. Unlike previous cycles, we knew from the…

  • Bisco Industries Sponsorship

    Bisco Industries Sponsorship

    Thanks to our most recent Friends-level sponsor, bisco industries! bisco industries is a premier franchised distributor of electronic components, fasteners, and hardware that is committed to supporting the growth and education of future engineers. bisco serves manufactures across the electronics and solar industries through their full-service e-commerce website and team of over 300 locally-based salespeople.…

  • Arctan Telemetry: Daisy

    All solar car teams strive to choose the most aerodynamic design, balance weight with durability and find high-efficiency solar panels and high-capacity batteries. These decisions are far from clear-cut, but let’s pretend there’s a definitive right answer. And let’s assume all the teams have unlimited budgets and, having chosen this right answer, can actually build…

  • Parallels Cross-Platform Solutions Sponsorship

    Thank you to our latest Friends-level sponsor, Parallels Cross-Platform Solutions! This Redmond, WA-based company makes it simple for people to access the applications and files they need on any device or operating system. They are a leader in helping customers take advantage of the best technology out there, whether it’s Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, or the…

  • CoilCraft Sponsorship

    Thanks to CoilCraft for joining us as a new Friends-level Sponsor! In their own words: As the most trusted name in RF & power magnetics, Coilcraft is committed to providing ECE students with a wide variety of resources to support their studies. In addition to free RF and power inductor samples, we also offer sophisticated web tools…

  • Sabalcore Sponsorship

    Thank you to our latest silver-level sponsor, Sabalcore! Sabalcore provides access to high-performance computing (HPC) systems on-demand with a pay-as-you-go price model. The HPC systems are specifically designed for scientific and engineering problems that require vast amounts of compute resources. The service enables scientists and engineers to take advantage of large parallel computing systems and…