Can Human Powered Submarine Races Educate Our Students?

The quality of the technical expertise of our young students tends to be gradually decreasing. There exist too many distractions like social climbing among their peers, expertise in athletic endeavors, and an excess of time and money. There exists the need to strengthen and enhance the scientific and technical literacy of our students. If there is excitement in an activity, the student becomes motivated and will tend to exert his/her best efforts. Also, if there is a challenge to excel, the motivation factor increases. The International Submarine Race (ISR) presents all the required opportunities to our students to achieve excellence. The ISR is an engineering design competition open to high schools, colleges, and university students, and individuals. The focus of the ISR is on the engineering principles and technologies involved in the design and operation of a human- powered submarine. The paper will address how the ISR provides the stimulus for engineering education and attracts favorable public and academic attention to marine technology and ocean engineering. Examples of some of the successes achieved to date will be presented.