The University of Tulsa Challenge X Outreach team has a great beginning with a successful media event, five community events, two technical presentations and a K-12 educational event. By the end of Year 2 the team has set as a goal to have been involved in six more activities for K-12 students, including two which have already been scheduled. We will be a part of two to three more community projects, and we hope to be covered by the local media at least once more. Also, improvements to Tulsa's team's website will be made to attract further interest. We plan to be in position to compete for all of this year's Outreach awards!
The University of Tulsa Challenge X team has received a lot of attention from the media and the public since the competition in Detroit. University photographer, Walt Beazley, submitted this photograph of a group of our Challenge X team to the University Photographers Association and won one of their summer competitions!
When we returned from Detroit, the Tulsa World ran an article entitled "TU Students Driven to Design Alternative Vehicles" (7/10/2005) that focused on the two car competitions the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences competed in over the summer. Congratulations to the Chem-E-Car team for winning the world championship!
The University also published an article celebrating our first year on the University homepage. Click here to view the archived article.
The Challenge X team sent out a press release about a press conference to be held on August 24 to show off our new Equinox to the public. Some outlets were so excited about the project that they ran stories as soon as they got our press release! On August 16, Channel 8 (ABC affiliate KTUL) featured students Chris Flory and Aaron Acklen at our shop, Hurricane Motor Works (HMW) on the 10:00 p.m. news. On August 19, the Tulsa Business Journal ran an article and photo of the team. On August 21, the Daily Oklahoman ran an article on page 18A entitled "Students win vehicle for fuel conversion".
On August 23, the student newspaper, The Collegian, ran "TU moving to the forefront of technology" in the first edition of the academic year. 
With all of that early coverage, we were concerned that nobody would show up at our press conference. At noon on August 24 we were pleased that television Channel 2 (NBC affiliate KJRH), Channel 6 (CBS affilitate KOTV), and Channel 23 (FOX affiliate KOKI) attended and broadcast multiple stories:
5:00 News on Channel 2 and Channel 6
6:00 News on Channel 6 (Click to see their online version of the story)
9:00 News on Channel 23
10:00 News on Channel 2 and 6
But don't think we've forgotten about educating the public . . .
On June 13 at 4:00 pm, Dr. Daniel Crunkleton and Dr. Christi Patton presented a paper “ChE Students and Automotive Design Competitions” at the ASEE Annual Meeting in Portland, OR. We had the opportunity to talk to many engineers about how and why we can tie automotive design to chemical engineering.
On September 16 at 8:30 am, Dr. Christi Patton delivered a paper entitled "The Benefits of an Interdisciplinary Design Project" at the ASEE Regional Meeting in Fayetteville, AR. Co-authors were Dan Crunkleton, John Henshaw, Robert Strattan and Douglas Jussaume.
And doing K-12 activities . . .
On September 10 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm 100 second and third grade Brownie Girl Scouts visited campus for a day of hands on science and engineering activities. The Challenge X session emphasized emerging technologies that are improving fuel economy. The girls loved getting to see our car projects and play with toy cars as they learned more about how cars move today and how they'll move in the future!
And spreading the word throughout the community . . .
On July 18, the Solar Rayce passed through Broken Arrow, OK. We took one of our older car projects (the Equinox hadn't arrived yet!) and Challenge X posters to the checkpoint for the Solar Rayce. This gave us an opportunity to talk about the Challenge X goals of improving fuel economy while minimizing emissions to people who are interested in fuel efficient/environmentally benign technology for transportation. Chris Flory, Justin Rempel, Joshua Buck, Ryan Gillette, Aaron Acklen, Bob Strattan, Christi Patton, Matt Roberds attended. We visited one-on-one with about 200 visitors but about 700 visitors attended the event.
From August 22 - 24, the team parked the Equinox inside of Keplinger Hall, the home to the college of Engineering and Natural Sciences. A car inside the building is a great way to attract attention! Posters and brochures pointed students to the benefits of joining the Challenge X team.
On August 25 from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m., Challenge X participated in the campus Activities Fair. This is an excellent opportunity to let the non-engineering students know what we're working on this year! We were visited by at least 300 students, faculty and staff.
On September 24, the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America (VCCA) visited HMW at 8:30 a.m to view the Challenge X Equinox, TU HMW's other hybrid-electric vehicles and laboratory and shop facilities. The 35 vintage Chevys from the Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas area were on their annual Area 6 Joint Fall Tour. TU faculty advisor Dr. Robert Strattan participated in the tour with his 1930 Sedan and arranged for the tour to visit the TU facilities. Students Joshua Buck and Jon Throneberry and faculty advisor Dr. John Henshaw assisted with the display and discussions with the 75 visitors that morning. The photos are of our vehicles on display and the visiting vintage Chevys.
On October 8 (1:00 - 3:00 p.m.), Challenge X was a special guest at the United Way Car Show at the Reynolds Center Parking lot. Students Xindi Wang and Dorian Marx joined recent graduate Christina Bishop and Dr. Christi Patton at this event. The weather couldn't have been better, but the crowds were light. We only saw about 40 people during the event. It seems that most people were occupied with the University of Oklahoma vs University of Texas football game. Congratulations to our CX competitors in Austin for winning that game!
