CLEAN SNOWMOBILE CHALLENGE AWARDS BANQUET MARCH 22

HOUGHTON--The upcoming SAE Clean Snowmobile Challenge will culminate in an awards banquet at Michigan Tech Saturday, March 22, and everyone is invited.

The festivities begin with a social hour at 6 p.m. in the Memorial Union Ballroom, followed by an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner at 7 p.m. The menu features roast turkey, barbecue ribs and stuffed pasta shells with marinara sauce. Side dishes, desserts and beverages are also included. Tickets are $25 per person.

Following the banquet, the championship team will be announced, along with other special award winners.

The Clean Snowmobile Challenge is the Society of Automotive Engineers' newest collegiate design competition. Teams of engineering students from the 12 participating schools take a perfectly good stock snowmobile and then reengineer it to reduce emissions and noise while maintaining or improving performance.

"Everyone is welcome to come to the banquet and celebrate the accomplishments of these outstanding young engineers," said Jay Meldrum, director of MTU's Keweenaw Research Center. "This is our first year hosting the Clean Snowmobile Challenge, and this is a chance to show our visitors a little Copper Country hospitality."

To make your banquet reservations, mail a check made out to MTU to Gail Sanchez, Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics, Michigan Technological University, 1400 Townsend Dr., Houghton, MI 49931-1295. Your tickets will be given to you at the banquet. For more information, contact Sanchez at 487-2911.

The Challenge is co-sponsored by the Keweenaw Research Center and MTU's Department of Mechanical Engineering-Engineering Mechanics.