SOLIDWORKS EDU Celebrates and Supports Baja SAE 50th Anniversary

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Eighty plus engineering teams from around the world will participate in the Baja SAE design competition in Gray Court, South Carolina, October 2-5. This is the 50th year for Baja SAE and the SOLIDWORKS EDU team will be there to celebrate and cheer. Baja SAE returns to where it all started in South Carolina, in 1976, with University of South Carolina’s, Dr. John Stephens. Professor Stephens’ vision was to provide opportunities for students to learn hands-on applications in stress analysis theory and solve real-world industry challenges including tight budgets and manufacturability concerns. Dr. Harit Mehta, managed the initial event (MiniBaja) with just 10 teams. Baja SAE was born and is part of the SAE Collegiate Design Series through SAE International.

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Baja SAE challenges students to design and build off-road vehicles that will survive severe punishment on rough terrain through a series of dynamic and static events along with team collaboration and problem-solving skills under pressure.

For over 20 years, SOLIDWORKS has been supporting Baja SAE students with our SOLIDWORKS Student Team Sponsorship program, providing design, simulation (FEA), drawing and visualization software for free.

I was first introduced to Baja SAE events in 2010 hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), New York, USA.  My first thoughts were intense, grueling, and engineering fun.  There was a water event then, but due to safety, it would later be removed.  Safety is the number one concern for SAE International, SAE Collegiate Design Series team and volunteer judges.

Over the years, SOLIDWORKS EDU has supporting many Baja SAE events, including those hosted by Tennessee Tech, where in 2011, I got to meet with my former mechanical engineering advisor, Dr. Joe Rencis (now Embry-Riddle), who was engineering dean at the time. Joe educated me on the requirements to compete on a world-wide level and host such a intense engineering event. Tennessee Tech has gone on to win 12 major Baja SAE events. We were fortunate to have the Tennessee Tech team with us at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2022 Nashville.

With the help of our Value Added Resellers, we have supported events and teams in India, Brazil and showcased teams at 3DEXPERIENCE World’s such as Renegade Racing LeTrouneau (2024) and SOLIDWORKS World’s, Baylor Baja, Baylor University (2019).

We walked in mud, dirt, extreme heat, rain and snow, to talk with teams at events in Alabama, Arizona, California, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Texas, Wisconsin, and jumped at the chance to attend events and eat BBQ with these young engineers.

With our SOLIDWORKS User Group Network (SWUGN) we invite Baja SAE teams to present their vehicles and network with our commercial customers. All students can join a SWUGN organization.

I still remember visiting, Husker Racing Baja SAE and FSAE teams at the University of Nebraska in 2015 – only to see them again at night during a SWUGN meeting in Lincoln, NE. (Thanks Todd Blacksher). Years later, i would reach out again to Husker Racing to attend a local Auto show to raise money for a SOLIDWORKS community cancer patient, and they did.

We also support SAE student teams with free SOLIDWORKS certification. I love the stories of future jobs between students and our commercial customers. We have created hundreds of hours of video to support vehicle design, including this one made 14 years ago by my then intern, Steve Faulkner, team captain, Wisconsin Racing, using a model from Iowa State Baja Cyclone Off-Road Racing.

To truly feel the event and understand what these students go through, Greg Carloss, MotorWeek interviewed Damon Andring, SAE, and teams members at Baja SAE Maryland 2025.

We have received thousands of thank you’s from SAE, other sponsors, parents, alum, students and their advisors. Keep those letters, postcards, newsletters, photos and videos coming to share on our Facebook and Instagram.

From Gray Court, South Carolina, SOLIDWORKS EDU will be there to celebrate 50 years with you and yes, we have SOLIDWORKS cable ties!

Design well, Marie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marie Planchard

Marie Planchard

Senior Director, Early Engagement, 3DEXPERIENCE Works at Dassault Systemes
Marie Planchard is an education and engineering advocate. As Senior Director of Education & Early Engagement, SOLIDWORKS, she is responsible for global development of content and social outreach across all levels of learning.
Marie Planchard

@marieplanchard1