Success Stories/Testimonials

For more than 25 years, SAE has set the standard for exceptional design competitions where engineering students obtain real world experience in the design, manufacture and testing of real vehicles. These competitions have enhanced the educational experience of engineering students around the world.

More than 25,000 engineering students have graduated with SAE collegiate design experience and have benefited tremendously from their participation. SAE is proud to feature success stories of the collegiate design alumni.

Dr. Lori M. Fussell*
Eric Weber*
Dan Cullen, Michelle Dumeah and Eric Petersen*
Rick Bolt*
Joshua Peterson and Ondrej Tomek*
Dean Case*

* This is a .pdf file. You’ll need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to view it.

Competition Alumni

"By working on FSAE^TM, I have acquired the equivalent to several years of experience in the automotive industry."
Nissa Anderson, Motorsports Vehicle Dynamics Engineer, Ford Motor Company

"Formula SAE® was the most educational and rewarding team-oriented project I have ever had the pleasure of working on. It gave me the opportunity to learn skills such as time management, teamwork, managing to schedules and budgets, and delegation that I could never have learned in a classroom. In fact, the work cadence, need for teamwork, and sense of camaraderie here at the Rod Millen Group are so similar to those of SAE student competitions, we hire competition veterans almost exclusively. We have found that if students can meet the challenges of an SAE competition such as FSAE^TM, they are typically very well prepared to be a productive and integral part of our design team."
Dean Banks, Engineering Manager, Rod Millen Motorsport/Rod Millen Special Vehicles

"SAE involvement made my Mechanical Engineering college experience at the University of Akron complete. Through 3 years of SAE involvement in Formula SAE®, Mini Baja® and as chapter President, I gained incomprehensible experience that has helped catapult my career and my personal endeavors and has left me with a wealth of memories and good friends. The Mechanical Engineering curriculum at Akron gave me the skills and knowledge that I needed to be an engineer. SAE participation gave me the skills and knowledge that I needed to be successful in project management and self-promotion."
Brent D. Breon, Operations Supervisor, Dominion East Ohio Gas

"Formula SAE® gives an engineer a lot of practical experience. I learned more working with the Formula SAE project than I did in many classes. It really shows you that real life doesn't always work out like textbook problems."
Shaun P. Burke, Design Engineer, Caterpillar, Inc.

"Without a doubt my SAE student activities helped me in so many ways. It kept me focused on my goal of an automotive career, it gave me experiences that helped me secure my best job interviews, plus it was a lot of fun."
Dean Case, Engineer, Nissan Motor Corporation

"I think the best thing about being in Formula SAE® is how it prepares you for ‘real life' experiences. I know how lame it sounds and you hear stuff like that from alot of people, but it's true. It teaches you how extensive the design process actually is, not to mention what it takes to fabricate one of those things! It teaches you things that you don't learn in classes - how to network and raise funds, how to cost out a prototype, how to machine or layup composite parts, and the list goes on... And, it's the only real way to get a job in the automotive or racing industry because being in this program literally puts you miles ahead of the competition.
Michelle T. Hsia, Engineer, Cessna Aircraft Company

"Involvement in the Cal Poly SAE collegiate chapter was one of the most educational and productive experiences of my life. Many of my current passions and philosophies were born and nurtured in that stage of my life, and my career in off-road vehicle dynamics and high performance chassis design is a direct result."
Bryan J. Kudela, President, Light Racing, Inc.

"Formula SAE® has been the single largest impact in my career. Every job I have had since graduation has been a direct result of my work on the FSAE^TM car. The only reason my dream of working in the auto industry and for a professional race team was realized was due to my experience on the FSAE^TM team. That is not to mention all the fun I had building and racing the car. This is how I honestly feel. It's the best thing that I have ever done."
Matt Lewis, Project Engineer, Johnson Controls, Inc.

"As a member of the University at Buffalo CSC team, I gained the hands on experience in both engineering and leadership that I require to be successful in my career."
Andrew Mills, Associate Engineer, Polaris Industries

"The Formula SAE® project was the first opportunity I had to see my ideas develop fully into hardware. Some of the designs worked...others didn't...but the opportunity to go through that learning curve took engineering out of the textbooks and into the real world for me."
Renee Sears, Manager, Ford Motor Company

"Membership in SAE certainly increased my knowledge of cars, but more than anything else, it built confidence in my thoughts and ideas while teaching me to communicate them in a team environment. The experience applies to all aspects of my life, not just the career."
Jeremy Short, Project Engineer, GM Racing Engineering

"My involvement in Formula SAE® provided me with the opportunity to gain valuable automotive engineering experience and knowledge. The RIT formula team was an environment that allowed people to apply engineering fundamentals in the hands-on crafting of a racecar."
Eric Weber, Associate Engineer, Honda Motor Company, Ltd.

Corporate Sponsors

"The SAE Collegiate Design Competitions are an excellent win-win program for all involved. The students benefit greatly from the opportunity to learn key skills such as team-building, communications, financial management, and the integration of multiple technologies. The competitions provide a multidisciplinary forum for the academic community to implement design projects, and industry benefits from the enhanced skills gained by the participating students. Lastly, one need only attend one of these competitions to witness participants, families, friends, and visitors all beaming with enthusiasm!"
Greg Henderson, Senior Manager, Airframe Design, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company

"Our first year of sponsoring Mini Baja® was so successful, we're definitely going to continue. Mechanical Dynamics has been really pleased with the sponsor treatment by the SAE and the local competition hosts -- we've gotten lots of visibility we never had before -- and at times they went out of their way to accommodate our needs. Also, experiencing first-hand the quality, dedication and enthusiasm of the students and faculty involved in the competition gives us first crack at some top-notch recruits."
John Janevic, University Program Manager, Mechanical Dynamics, Inc.

"Honda R&D Americas, Inc. has supported the Mini Baja® program over the years because we see the result of what a team of engineers can accomplish together. The competition combines what they have learned in their engineering courses with a real world project from the beginning to the end. Being a member on one of the teams shows a strong interest in vehicles and also brings out the best of engineers who go beyond the normal engineering curriculum. As a long term sponsor of the Mini Baja® teams, we are able to meet excellent engineers who have the potential to become members of the Honda team. Because of our involvement, we have been able to build up a good rapport with the teams, advisors and other sponsors over the years."
Tamara Jenkins, Human Resources Coordinator, Honda R&D Americas, Inc.

"The SAE Collegiate Design Competitions have had and continue to have a profoundly important and beneficial impact on global engineering education. They provide the "vehicle" for experiential learning and for team-based education. They facilitate the learning of systems principles and systems engineering techniques and methods, and the competitions do all of this in the context of real world constraints, pressures and deadlines."
Neil Schilke, General Director of Engineering and Corporate Staff, General Motors Corporation

"The SAE Collegiate Design Competitions ensure that several hundred young engineers will enter industry having been a part of a team that conceptualized, designed, constructed and developed a racing car, a load bearing aircraft or a walking machine. These young people have necessarily learned how to work as a member of a team; that, in order to be successful, any team needs a strong leader; that time and money constraints are immutable; that practicality takes precedence over elegance of design and that the operator and the interface between the operator and the machine are critical to the success of the project. This knowledge will serve both the graduates and the industry well."
Carroll Smith, Carroll Smith Consulting, Inc.

"SAE Collegiate Design Competitions give the engineers a chance to integrate and apply their academic base to real world problems."
John Valentine, Chief Engineer, Ford Motor Company

Academia

"The Formula SAE® competition is very motivating to students. The SAE and industry operation of the competition and judging contributes greatly to Cornell Engineering's goals of having class projects that effectively teach the students about complex customer requirements, systems engineering, cost, manufacturing, management, teamwork, working with engineers from different disciplines, working with suppliers, etc."
Dr. Albert George, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University

"The SAE Collegiate Design Competitions provide an excellent opportunity for students to learn many of the skills now required for today's engineering workforce including elements of engineering design, creativity, teamwork and communication skills. In addition, the competitions can serve as an excellent project to help engineering programs meet the capstone major design experience required by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET."
Dr. Gerald S. Jakubowski, Dean of Science and Engineering, Loyola Marymount University

"Students that are involved in team projects are much more successful and sought after by industry than students who do not have the advantages of teamwork, professional development, and the hands-on skills developed by the competition. A debt of gratitude is owed to SAE and the countless individual corporate sponsors and volunteers who contribute time and money to the competitions."
Dr. Robert Woods, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington