How Student Teamwork Built a World Championship Car

Editor’s Note: Caroline Little teaches all levels of French and moderates an engineering co-curricular at St. Thomas Academy, an all-boys school in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. Here she provides a report on the program and the benefits it provides to participating students.

Power Systems Research has been a lead sponsor of the special Experimental Vehicle Team (EVT) at St. Thomas for many years. This year, the team won its class in the Shell Eco-Marathon international competition in London. This report from Ms. Little discusses the program and the benefits it provides for high school students interested in science, technology, engineering and match (STEM).

By Caroline Little

Every year for the past twenty the Saint Thomas Academy Experimental Vehicle Team (STA EVT) has built a new vehicle from the ground up to give our students the best engineering experience a high-schooler can get. The internationally recognized program started in 1997. My fellow moderator Mark Westlake and I believe in the importance of learning from mistakes. That the most important life lessons come from experience, that science is not always easy and that the answers are not always found in the back of the book.

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Publications POWER SYSTEMS RESEARCH (PSR): Another in Our Series of EGSA Member Company Profiles

This article appeared in the July/August 2016 issue of Powerline Magazine, published by EGSA (Electrical Generating Systems Association)

This is the story of a 40-year-old company that carried on
and succeeded following the sudden and tragic death of its
Founder and President last year. Early in 2015, George Zirnhelt,
the dynamic and creative Founder and President of Power Systems
Research (PSR), passed away from injuries sustained in an
accident while vacationing in Mexico.

The PSR global team rebounded from this loss, immediately
implementing a crisis operations plan and a management transition
program that were both already put in place. Instead of losing
ground, the company finished 2015 strong, by following through
on several strategic tasks that George had initiated and implemented
to position the company for future growth and expansion.

Already in Q1, 2016 revenue was the best in more than a decade
– a sign that the company is moving forward despite tragic loss.
PSR is an internationally-recognized leader in the collection,
analysis and forecasting of production information for engines

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