Salina Student Makes Splash With Team

Six members of a Kansas State University engineering creative design team, including a Salina student, have won an award at an international competition.

According to the school, the KSU Fountain Wars Team  brought home third-place honors.

It’s the seventh time in past eight years a team from Kansas State University has finished in the top three in the Fountain Wars Competition, a segment of the G.B. Gunlogson Student Environmental Design Competition.

The outdoor event is a hands-on, real-time design contest in which students construct and model their entry before the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineering’s annual international meeting, this year July 29-Aug. 1 in Detroit.

Awards are based on combined scores of written report, video abstract, oral presentation, construction, technical tasks and an aesthetic display. In honor of the meeting location in “Motor City,” the Kansas State University team incorporated the iconic Chevrolet Bel Air as the aesthetic component of its fountain. This year’s technical tasks included launching a golf disc at a target and balancing a beam following placement of a weight by the judges at the contest.

The team, advised by Trisha Moore, assistant professor of biological and agricultural engineering, received a cash prize and trophy for its entry in the competition.

The following students made up the 2018 Fountain Wars Team:

  • Evan Morrical, junior in biosystems engineering, Salina
  • Joe Boutte, junior in computer science, and Caleb Jones, junior in biosystems engineering, both from Colwich
  • T-Ying Lin, junior in mechanical engineering, Kansas City
  • Devon Bandad, graduate student in biological and agricultural engineering, Teddy Gillespie, junior in biological systems engineering, Charlie Hamilton, junior in electrical engineering, and
  • Jessica Stanton, junior in biosystems engineering, all from Shawnee
  • Alexander Coon, senior in biosystems engineering, Wichita.
  • From out of state: John Pittala, junior in mechanical engineering, Kansas City, Missouri.