RWDC team takes second at Nationals

Iris Kuo
May 18, 2010
Filed under Features, News

In late March, the ‘Iolani team of seniors Jared Hara, Chris Kodama, Evan Masutani, Mark Muraoka, Dominic Reiss, Taylor Van Etten and Mark Williams was awarded second place in the nation in the Real World Design Challenge (RWDC). The group, under the supervision of Dr. Carey Inouye, began working in November to meet the state challenge.

The challenge set for the national competition was to design both the tail cone and the wings, again under certain conditions and maximized efficiency.

Using a CAD (computer aided design) program, they designed the tail cone of a plane that satisfied certain conditions and maximized efficiency then tested it in a virtual wind tunnel.

In addition to the design itself, the team had to submit documentation of the design process, tests, and communication within the group and prepare and deliver a twenty-minute presentation explaining their design.

The national challenge took place in Washington, D.C. from March 26-29 with twenty-four teams, all from different states. The teams’ first presentations took place in the National 4H Conference Center in front of a team of technical judges.

After this, three of the twenty-four teams were chosen as the finalists: one from Kansas, one from Minnesota, and our own ‘Iolani team. The teams were required to shorten their presentations to fifteen minutes and deliver it to a new panel of judges in the IMAX theatre of the National Air and Space Museum. After all three presentations, the results were announced: Kansas was awarded first, followed by Hawaii, then Minnesota.

The team put a lot of time, energy, and hard work into preparing for the RWDC, and to make it to the final three at the national level is no small feat.