At the end of every summer term for the last 6 years, teams of Grad ID students have been running on the sidewalks of Art Center’s campus chasing Radio Controlled cars propelled by 16 feet of rubber band.

That scene is the culmination of a term long project in which the students go on a journey through the phases of conceiving of and then developing unique race vehicles that go far beyond the typical theory, visualization, model making and presentation activities that make up most of a design education experience – to developing, producing, testing, integrating technical systems and deploying an invention that actually has to work- in a high visibility forum!
Each year the lessons to be learned in the process challenge the character of everyone involved.

This years Formula E Race event broke new ground for Art Center and our students found new ways to direct the energy in their rubber band powered cars.

Grad ID faculty Stan Kong reached out to a number of students at Pasadena City College, where he also teaches, to connect them with Formula E. Ultimately, eight PCC students and 14 Grad ID students formed seven different teams to not only design and build Formula E racecars, but to raise money for six local non-profits.

Two of the student teams selected Kidspace Museum as their charity, taught workshops to classes of young students to build their own rubber-band racers and held a “jr. class” race that opened this year’s event.

Actor/ Emmy award winning host Matt Gallant ( American Inventor, The Planet’s funniest Animals) brought his quick wit to MC our event. Each team had 3 attempts to record their best time in 3 driving events and there were some great racing moments between the top performing teams.
At the end of the day the Carbon 3.0 team took the Best in Show award after wins and new records for the Sinclair Hill Climb and Ashtray Drag race events. Team Flying Squirrel also set a new course record for the figure 8 course and Team Confidential won the Eckles Design and Build Award.

Several hundred people from the Pasadena community including kids and their parents were on campus. The executive directors of the Giesen trust, the Armory Center for the Arts, Kidspace Museum, Sidestreet Projects, representatives from Southern California Public Radio KPCC and Levitt Pavilion were also in attendance.
A distinguished panel of alums, professional designers and guests, including Pasadena City College president Dr. Mark Rocha, reviewed the team designs to elect a winner for the event’s beauty contest: the Eckles design and build award.

Our teams did an outstanding job with their projects, built good will with their promotion and fundraising efforts for local charities and learned about the importance of creating designs that go beyond theory to actually perform and create value for others.

We’ve been getting messages from many that attended that it was one of the most engaging and fun activities they’ve ever experienced. Many of our distinguished group of judges has expressed the same.
We are already thinking about how we can make next year’s event even better!

Tearing things apart, bringing ideas together. At an early age, Michael Attaway showed an affinity for all things mechanical. This curiosity often led to the chagrin of his parents who had to deal with the remains of destroyed household appliances. After graduating from Louisiana Tech University with a Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, Michael moved to Dallas-Fort Worth and began a career in the aerospace industry. He has worked on many high profile programs such as the F-35 JSF Lightning II, variants of theF-16 and the BA-609 concentrating in landing gear systems integration and design. Michael has also always been an artist and strongly desired the pursuit of a more creative career.

After graduating from Cornell, Alexandra worked for US Ergonomics as a private contractor doing product testing for clients, ergonomic consulting and workplace assessments. Alexandra conducted ethnographic design research as an intern for OMHU, a product design company in New York that focuses on designing beautiful and helpful aids for daily living for older adults. Alexandra loves working with and learning about the people who she is designing for. She is now attending Art Center College Design for her Masters of Industrial Design.

Lance is a socially conscious forward thinker, with a passion for innovation. Lance’s experience encompasses corporate interior design, home design, business  management and volunteer social assistance in developing nations. His innovation experience includes International Red Cross health fairs, U.S. embassies, skyscrapers in the Middle East, corporate environments for Fortune 500 companies and electrical service delivery systems. Lance believes in design as a tool for social change and global humanitarian progress.

A designer without borders – Leticia was born in the US and raised in Tijuana, Mexico. Growing up in the most crossed border in the world helped her understand cultural synergy. Her interest is in designing for everyone and surpassing the challenge of diversity. As a young designer she has already experienced a variety of industries like medical, packaging and furniture design. Leticia holds a BS in Industrial Design and decided to join the gradID program to expand her skills and learn about the business  and marketing aspects of design.

Andy Cooper graduated in 2011 from Stanford University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Engineering: Product Design. He is excited to be at Art Center College of Design now to build upon his undergraduate studies and to enhance both his skill set and strategic thinking. While he is a native Californian, Andy has enjoyed his studies abroad and looks forward to traveling the world with all of the knowledge that he gains as part of the gradID program.

web.me.com/agc

Anastasia Hanan graduated in 2003 with a B.F.A. in Theater from NYU, and has been working in television, fashion and accessories for 10 years. Anastasia’s aesthetic imperative is to infuse compelling visual narratives into the mix of contemporary design. She created the Fall 2012  in-house collection for Glamhouse jewelry. She designed a sustainable materials and natural dye collection for Payless’ stores’  Zoe and Zac “Green” line. As Tarina Tarantino’s head jewelry designer, she created licensed collections for Kid Robot, Sanrio, Barbie, and couture pieces for Tarantino’s celebrity clients Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Hillary Duff.  Her designs have been featured in magazines such as W, Elle, Vogue, Seventeen, Cosmo Girl, and WWD. In 2011 she received the prestigious Two Ten Scholarship for Footwear Design

www.anastasiahanan.com

Les has worked as a tool and fixture designer in the creation of world famous sculpture for the artist Anish Kapoor.  Les earned a BS in Architecture and a BA in Technical Theater from Washington University in St. Louis in 2005, and has a very user experience centered approach. He has worked as an  Architectural Lighting Designer and Theatrical Consultant for the firm Auerbach Glasow French | Auerbach Pollock Freidlander; where he worked on the Wrightsmen Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and permanent theaters for Cirque Du Sole. While at Art Center, Les is enthusiastic about enhancing his understanding of business acumen, brand based aesthetics, and ergonomics in the pursuit of creating utilitarian human centered tools.

Jonas was raised in Gothenburg on the west coast of Sweden and has ever since childhood been fascinated about engineering and design. In 2006 he graduated from a bachelor program in Industrial Design Engineering where the focus where on usability and human centric design in combination with engineering. After that Jonas started up his own firm and worked as an Industrial Design consultant for ABB. A couple of years later he got accepted at Art Center where he will develop his skills and understanding of industrial design further.

www.behance.net/lindsaynevard