018: Get to Know Team Sunergy Pt.01

Find Your Sustain Ability

Two App State Team Sunergy members join Chief Sustainability Officer Lee Ball in the podcast studio to share their experiences with solar vehicle racing. Nicole Sommerdorf and Patrick Laney explain how they got involved with the team, as well as the impact it has had on their personal growth and their job prospects post-graduation.

Show Notes:

https://sunergy.appstate.edu/

Lee Ball:

Hello everybody. Welcome to another Find Your Sustainability Podcast. My name is Lee Ball. I'm the Chief Sustainability Officer here at Appalachian State University. Today, this is the first of three parts with Team Sunergy Appalachian State's solar vehicle team. Appalachian State University's internationally recognized Team Sunergy is an interdisciplinary team with a passion for sustainable transportation and the ingenuity, innovation, and drive to create it. It's premier solar car, Apperion, gained national attention with top three finishes in the 2016 and '17 Formula Sun Grand Prix, an international collegiate endurance competition that sets the standard for and tests the limits of solar vehicle technology. In 2018, the team's second cruiser class car rose, racing on solar energy, placed third in the FSGP competition and tied for second place in the American Solar Challenge, an international solar vehicle distance race held every other year by the Innovators Educational Foundation.

In FSGP 2021, Team Sunergy captured second place in its class advancing to the ASC and winning first place for multiple occupant vehicles. In 2022, team Sunergy finished second place in the American Solar Challenge, and that race took place from Independence Missouri to Twin Falls, Idaho. So, joining me today are two team Sunergy members that I've had the great pleasure of getting to know for several years now. Nicole Sommerdorf and Patrick Laney. So, welcome to the podcast to both of you.

Nicole Sommerdorf:

Thank you.

Lee Ball:

Nicole Sommerdorf is the electric director and majors in sustainable technology and environmental science. Very ambitious double major, Nicole. And Patrick Laney, who's the lead mechanical engineer, is a sustainable technology major. So, welcome to the podcast. I'm real excited to talk about Team Sunergy and talking about kind of your connection to Team Sunergy and really what got you involved and why you're excited to continue to be involved with such an interesting and sometimes grueling and exhausting program. So, I'll first start with you Nicole. What first attracted you to get involved with Team Sunergy?

Nicole Sommerdorf:

I actually heard about Team Sunergy when I was in high school and I was looking for a place to go for college, and it actually led me to Appalachian State in the first place. I got initially into the team my first year of college during COVID, fall 2020. And at first the electrical meetings were on Zoom, but then I just kept being on the team and I finally got to go to the warehouse in spring 2021.

Lee Ball:

Patrick, what about you?

Patrick Laney:

I also discovered the team when I was in high school. I was actually here on a visit to see my sister who was a student here and when I saw it in the newspaper, I applied early admission to App State on the drive home. So, I joined my freshman year and never looked back.

Lee Ball:

Yeah, that's awesome. We need to make sure enrollment management listens to this podcast. Nicole, can you share a memory from your first race?

Nicole Sommerdorf:

My first race was in 2021 and the best memory from that race was when Jessica and Stephanie finally made it over the big hill during the ASC route. And no other teams at that point had made it over the hill, and one team even broke down trying to get their solar car over the hill. So, I think it was a really great feat when they finally made it over on top of the hill, they all jumped out and we all hugged them. So, it was a really nice memory.

Lee Ball:

I think I share that memory. Just seeing the smiles in their faces was priceless.

Nicole Sommerdorf:

Yeah.

Lee Ball:

Patrick, what about you? What do you remember from your first race?

Patrick Laney:

Probably from the track race when we decided that I would try to drive all day and barely make the cutoff to qualify for ASC. When me and Austin were in the car and we drove the whole day, I don't remember how long it was, but we ended up one lap short because of a penalty. And the last lap we had to power cycle the car like 20 times just to try to get it around the track and we finally made it over, which was a cool feeling.

Lee Ball:

So Patrick, could you describe what the scrutineering process is and what it takes to qualify to even begin the competition?

Patrick Laney:

Yeah. So, scrutineering is basically technical inspection, where you roll your car into their building and completely deconstruct it basically and get grilled for hours and hours by their engineers to make sure that it is safe and also passes all the regulations and all that kind of good stuff.

Lee Ball:

And then the track race, can you describe what that's like?

Patrick Laney:

So, the Formula Sun Grand Prix is the qualifier for American Solar Challenge, and you have three days of track racing. Both of my FSGPs have been at Heartland Motorsport Park and you drive all day making laps on the track, and see how it goes.

Lee Ball:

And then the road race usually consists of what? How many days and what's that like?

Patrick Laney:

Well, the race in '21 was shortened because of COVID requirements, so that race was only a thousand miles and we did that over three or four days. This past summer was a longer race, 1,500 miles, and I think that one was five or six days.

Lee Ball:

Yeah. Did you get that audience? Only a thousand miles. It's pretty grueling. Nicole, what's it like competing against and getting to know students from schools located all over North America?

Nicole Sommerdorf:

I think it's fun. It's really cool to meet a lot of different types of people and just see the different teams coming from all across the world. You get to meet people from Canada, you get to see big engineering schools like MIT and just see how they interact with each other, and also just how they interact with other teams. It's like, I don't know. It's very interesting.

Lee Ball:

And Patrick, can you talk a little bit about the camaraderie between the teams?

Patrick Laney:

Yeah, I mean during scrutineering especially, it's basically all the teams band together against the scrutineers is essentially how it works. If you need parts, you can pretty much ask any team there and they'll give it to you or if they need something you can give it to them. We're one of the only teams that ever brings a drill press, and I think there's always a line at our trailer to use that. But yeah.

Lee Ball:

I know there's a lot of creative tension between the teams and the scrutineers, but I do like to think that they have our safety and our best interests.

Patrick Laney:

They do. Maybe us versus the scrutineers isn't the best way to word that, but we all team up together-

Lee Ball:

It feels that way.

Patrick Laney:

That way through scrutinizing.

Lee Ball:

It certainly feels that way sometimes.

Patrick Laney:

It does. It does.

Lee Ball:

Because it's so challenging, these are engineering problems that many of the teams have been spending months to solve, and then we get to the race and the scrutineer year will say, yeah, we want you to do it this way. And sometimes it's literally back to the drawing board.

Patrick Laney:

Yeah, completely back to the drawing board sometimes. And all the other teams come up with different solutions too, so I'm sure it's hard for the scrutineers to decide what's okay and what's not.

Lee Ball:

Right. Nicole, what are your thoughts about how collegiate solar racing is contributing to the future of sustainable transportation innovations?

Nicole Sommerdorf:

I think it really promotes students to think about the future and what they can do for the future and also how to work together.

Lee Ball:

Patrick, what are your thoughts on how solar racing in this collegiate space is contributing to the future of sustainable transportation?

Patrick Laney:

Well, not only, like Nicole said, everybody's thinking about the future, but the technologies that come out of solar car don't always necessarily have to be a solar car. Regenerative braking is something you see in most standard EVs, and that got its start primarily in solar car racing. So, advancements in solar cell technology, MPPTs aerodynamics, all coming from solar car.

Lee Ball:

Nicole, you're the electrical director. And I'm just curious, what is it like leading a team at a school like App State that does not have an electrical engineering team? What is it like trying to transfer the information that you've gained in the last few years to the next kind of crop of students that are also interested in the electrical part of Team Sunergy?

Nicole Sommerdorf:

It's been difficult, but in terms of just trying to find students that have the passion and drive to learn themselves. But it's been also good to just learn how to interact with other people and figure out what their needs are. So, some people might need different types of resources, some people might need hands-on training. It gives me good opportunities to learn and them, but yeah.

Lee Ball:

Well, I really appreciate your interest and passion in helping the next group of students learn from you and from others that preceded you. Because solar racing really relies on a strong electrical team and a strong mechanical team. And some of these challenges are extremely difficult and a lot of faculty members don't even know how to solve them. So, my experience witnessing you all as student competitors, I think of you more as colleagues because the knowledge that you have gained is far surpassed definitely myself and many other of your own faculty members that you know work with. Patrick, what's it like working with such a collaborative multidisciplinary team?

Patrick Laney:

It's interesting to say the least. I think a lot of times if you work with a group of people that all have the same mindset, you're going to have the same solutions each time. But when you work in a more multidisciplinary environment, you start to see more solutions to problems that maybe I didn't see at first.

Lee Ball:

And Nicole, how has your experience with Team Sunergy influenced your career path?

Nicole Sommerdorf:

I think Team Sunergy has given me a lot of skill sets for my further career path. I'm kind of completely going a 180 and doing soil science, so it's not that much with solar tech. But I did learn a lot from my years on the team and not just in terms of leadership skills, but also just working through various problems that seem impossible and having very high stress environments all the time. So, I think that has really prepared me for future careers.

Lee Ball:

Yeah, I mean, we've all experienced multiple times over when we think that it's impossible to find a solution. We'll keep trying and a solution emerges. I think that you really touched on the tenacity that it takes and the commitment that it takes to be able to be involved with this type of this competition where you have challenge after challenge after challenge, and sometimes they're just like, this mountain is like Everest. We're never going to get over this, but the team comes together and they huddle up and they just keep trying and keep trying. And eventually a solution presents itself and you get to the other side and you get to the next mountain. Patrick, how has your experience with Team Sunergy influenced your career path?

Patrick Laney:

I would say Team Sunergy pretty much single-handedly created my career path. I just today discovered that I'll be working with one of our sponsors after graduation, VX Aerospace, so I'm super stoked about that. And yeah, without Team Sunergy, I wouldn't have that opportunity, so.

Lee Ball:

Well, that's great news. Congratulations.

Patrick Laney:

Thank you.

Lee Ball:

Well, I want to thank both of you for spending time with us in the podcast studio. Remember, this is part one of a three part series about Appalachian State University's Team Sunergy.