Contact:
Chriss Swaney
412-268-5776

For immediate release:
April 28, 2003

Carnegie Mellon Engineering Students Stage Miniature Boat Races to Test Various Chemical Reactions Used to Fuel Aquatic Designs

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University engineering students will race several handmade boats to showcase a variety of fuels used to power their new aquatic designs. The boat designs will feature miniature scales of boats ranging in design from those used in the hit television show "Miami Vice" to an old steam-powered model endemic of the steamboats that once plied the rivers near Pittsburgh. Gary Powers, a Carnegie Mellon chemical engineering professor, said the class project is designed to help students understand the concepts of power by chemical reaction. Some of the shoebox-size watercraft will be powered by hydrogen peroxide.

WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Monday, April 28.

WHERE: The "Fence" at Carnegie Mellon University near Hunt Library.