My name is Ben. I am a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona majoring in mechanical engineering with a focus on propulsion. I consider myself to be less of one of the purely theoretical engineering students and more of a hands-on practical guy.
I grew up in a very small farm town in northern California and loved it. Most of my skills around the shop came from racing speedway motorcycles, modern and vintage motocross, working in a production machine shop for a few years, and working with crop dusters.
I am currently part of two major projects at my school:
1) Eagle Works Advanced Vehicle Lab: Building an electric LSR car for the E-1 class to reach 250 mph by Speed Week 2016
2) Eagle Space Flight Team: Building the first student-designed rocket to reach space (suborbit)
With my background, I know that to succeed in either of these projects, I've got to learn from the people that have actual experience, which is why I joined this forum. A few members of our team also plan to make it up to Speed Week 2015 to get a good feel for Bonneville and to meet some of the people in the LSR crowd. I'm excited to have my first experience on the salt, an to soon have my own project out there!