Collaboration is highly encouraged among Spartans, and the Broad College specifically embraces opportunities — within and beyond business topics — that allow students to explore their interests and work with others to apply classroom teachings.
On Feb. 4, the MSU Formula Racing Team, a student organization on campus, proudly represented the Spartans Will spirit at the Formula Society of Automotive Engineers International Collegiate Design Series competition. The annual event is the world’s largest mobility design series with over 550 teams competing worldwide, and Spartans collaborated virtually to place in the top 10 globally.
The MSU team consisted of undergraduate students from the Broad College and the Colleges of Engineering and Social Science. Supply chain management junior Neil Hoskins, computer science senior Dave Yonkers, economics senior Michael Robert and economics freshman Povilas Kvederas presented on the business side of creating their race car and their team’s functioning.
Neil Hoskins, supply chain management junior
“It was great to work with so many engineering and social science students on this project,” Hoskins said. “They look at problems differently than I do, so I enjoyed seeing how they worked together and came up with solutions.”
FSAE challenges students around the world to design, manufacture, develop and compete a small open-wheel race car. The competition is split up into static events, such as business and design judging, as well as dynamic driving events, such as autocross and endurance. Although the race portion of the event was delayed this year due to COVID-19, the MSU team is currently in the process of upgrading their race car and looking forward to participating in the driving events this upcoming summer.
The Spartans impressively finished the virtual component of the competition in ninth place, ahead of schools such as Brown University, Duke University, University of Michigan and the Ohio State University.
“The work of this group is incredibly impressive and something for our entire campus community to take pride in,” Kymm Hadlock, fixed-term faculty of finance and advisor for the team’s presentation, said. “Those of us on campus know that MSU is a rich intellectual environment full of students who work hard, take their learning seriously and can collaborate to produce excellent results.”
In spite of the challenging conditions during this pandemic, this team undoubtedly exemplifies the amazing outcomes of embracing diversity and seizing new opportunities.
Hoskins added, “Many people are struggling with the virtual environment, but with a little persistence, you can still achieve great things during this unprecedented time.”
