Month: November 2019

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New member spotlight: Josh Bowen!

Hear from one of our new baja members on why he joined and what he’s most excited to learn this year on the team.

Josh is a junior in mechanical engineering who just transferred to U of I this year.  He interned at Eaton over the summer and got to work with differentials and engine systems as well as other automotive parts. This sparked his interest in joining a car team and he chose Baja and the suspension sub-team because he loved the personality of our suspension lead, Aleks.

Josh hard at work during a shop day

Josh has quickly become very involved in the club, attending shop day every Saturday and even joining us at Midnight Mayhem to watch the cars compete.

“I joined Baja because I so inspired by the passion of the members I talked to at quad day. Everybody loved being on the team and it made me want to be a part of it.”

What he’s most excited for this year?  “I can’t wait to see the full car come together and see all the parts we’ve been designing come to life”

We’re so excited to have you as part of the team this year Josh and can’t wait to see what you do!

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Alumni Spotlight

We checked in with one of our recent alumni to see what he’s up to since graduation

Adam Schmitt , 2018-2019 Captain

Where do you currently work/what do you currently do?

I work at Northrop Grumman, currently doing a 3 year rotational program. My first rotation is in RF (radio frequency) Systems Engineering

What did you do on Baja?

I collected a ton of t-shirts (and a bucket hat which I proudly wear every chance I get), picked out the derpy knives, occasionally broke things, and DJ’d during shop days. And somewhere in there I was captain for a year.

How has Baja helped you in your career?

Baja helped me learn how to handle when things go wrong. It’s important to maintain a level head and not forget your problem solving skills in ambiguous or stressful situations. A whole lot of the real world is not necessarily knowing the right answers, but knowing which questions to ask to get there – and baja definitely left me scratching my head trying to get to the root of the cause of a problem more than once. 

What are you excited to see this year?

I’m excited to see the 4WD designs this year! I’m also looking forward to the hype competition recap videos that the team always puts together, you guys do an awesome job with those!