Engineering clubs reach record numbers
SEDS club table displays payloads the club has launched, along with equipment and materials for students interested in joining.
The College of Engineering's annual club showcase gathered more than 50 student organizations under one roof for University of Arizona students to join.
Members of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, or SEDS, design, build and launch payloads on high-altitude balloons that reach nearly 100,000 feet.
Club president Kane Mattison, an aerospace engineering senior, said the club’s ASCEND project helped him land an Arizona Space Grant internship at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
“SEDS has been fundamental to my education,” Mattison said. “It’s helped me with internships and research, and I’ve been able to work on space projects through connections I’ve built in this club.”
The Near Space Club offers another way for students to look to the stars. Members launch payloads that test how materials and biological systems respond to near space – the region of Earth’s atmosphere between commercial flight routes and outer space.
“It’s very exciting to send things up to 100,000 feet,” said mechanical engineering senior Liora Wilkins. “I also felt like this club gives you a chance to really get involved in the planning of these experiments right away.”
The number of College of Engineering clubs is currently at an all-time high of 53.