Student Competes at Thrill Ride Invitational
While many people enjoy riding roller coasters, some University of Arizona engineering students want to get a little more involved. Students from the UA Theme Park Entertainment Group earned some of the highest praise of any group at the Toronto Metropolitan University Thrill Design Invitational competition in Orlando, Florida. The competition invited student groups from 18 universities to present real-world creative, artistic and technical solutions to challenges related to the theme park industry: roller coasters, live shows, mechanical rides and more.
Judges awarded the UA TPEG team the highest marks overall, with distinction for technical skill, feasibility, innovation and communication. The UA engineering students were awarded more commendations per challenge than any other student team.
The club formed at the UA in 2017 and has competed at the invitational before. Because the complex theme rides connect mechanics, electronics, architecture and more, TPEG attracts students from many UA engineering majors. The group holds question and answer sessions with industry professionals, designs themed experiences, and occasionally takes trips to local entertainment venues. Michael Marcellin, Regents Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, serves as TPEG's faculty advisor.
“There was no better group to represent the University of Arizona at this competition than TPEG’s student competition team – an experienced, interdisciplinary group of graduate and undergraduate students dedicated to pushing the limits of what is possible in safety, creativity, engineering, sustainability and accessibility in the theme park industry,” Marcellin said. “They are decorated veterans of this competition, having brought back several winning trophies in engineering design and accessibility in years prior.”
The team consisted of a variety of engineering students, each with a special role. As an ECE major, Karson Knudson has some words of reassurance for those who enjoy thrill rides.
"Whenever you are planning to go to a permanent theme park, or even a traveling carnival in the United States, you can have some confidence knowing a well-designed computer by a professional electrical engineer has your back," Knudson said.