Louisiana Tech engineering and science students have returned victorious from Houston where they participated over the weekend in the 2010 Shell Eco Marathon.  The Tech team, who entered three cars in the competition, placed first in design, first in team spirit, second in urban car concept and thirteenth in the combustible fuels category. Shell sponsors the annual event as a challenge to students to design and build the most fuel efficient vehicles possible. This year’s event was held in downtown Houston where teams raced around the Discovery Green. The Louisiana Tech team competed against schools such as the University of Houston, Purdue, Penn State, NYU and universities from Italy and Canada.  The students who participated in the project did so as volunteers, designing, building, painting and testing the cars on their own time, usually in the evenings after class and on weekends. College of Engineering and Science Dean Stan Napper is very proud of the students’ hard work.  “I am pleased that more students are involved this year and that the teams team’s camaraderie and professional friendship with their fellow competitors.” This year, the Louisiana Tech team received some special recognition as Shell used its red urban design as the image for its world-wide poster.  Dr. Heath Tims, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and the Tech team’s faculty sponsor, also served on the event’s steering committee. Louisiana Tech’s College of Engineering and Science is a nationally recognized leader in educational innovation whose goal is to become “the best college in the world at integrating engineering and science in education and research.”  Louisiana Tech is one of fourteen universities nation-wide to become affiliated with the Center for Advancement on Scholarship in Engineering Education (CASEE), a unit of the National Academy of Engineering. Written by Catherine Fraser – cfraser@latech.edu