Published 4 min read
By Ed Brennen
Topics: Community & Outreach Faculty & Staff Student Life

It’s not every day that you see a giant snail, a pirate ship and the Millennium Falcon crossing the Howe Bridge heading toward UMass Lowell’s North Campus. But the— equal parts engineering challenge, art parade and community festival — is not your everyday event.

One Saturday each fall, more than a dozen teams from around the region and across the country pedal whimsical, human-powered machines across a grueling 6-mile course that features cobblestones, mud and even a plunge into the Merrimack River. This year’s eighth annual race included several students, alumni and faculty from UMass Lowell, which sponsors the event that blends science, technology, engineering, art and math — or STEAM.

Sophomorecomputer engineeringmajor Jennifer Carmona co-piloted the “Capybara Express” for the Youth Development Organization, an after-school program in Lawrence where she works as a STEM instructor.

Four people on a bicycle powered pirate ship ride past a college building. Image by Ed Brennen

Studio art major Aaliyah Colon, back left, rides past Alumni Hall on North Campus with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell's pirate ship.

“The best part has been working with the kids on the build and seeing the results of their work,” said Carmona, a Methuen native who had never seen the race before. “It’s a great way for them to build skills and for me to gain hands-on experience with mechanics and design, something I don’t always get when I’m more focused on coding.”

Carmona said she was warned to wear her “ugliest shoes” for the race, which proved wise when her co-pilot’s bicycle chain broke in the “Maddening Mud Pit” outside the Tsongas Center and they had to push their machine through. After a quick repair, they were back on course.

Sophomorestudio artmajor Aaliyah Colon also saw her team’s pirate ship get bogged down in the mud. Colon competed with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Lowell, where she has worked for the past three years and recently started an art program called the Creative Collective.

Like Carmona, it was Colon’s first time experiencing the race. “I remember seeing the funky bikes going through Lowell last year and being confused,” said Colon, who learned more about the event fromArt and DesignAssistant Teaching ProfessorMichael Roundy, the race director. “The idea of combining art, science and engineering really resonated with me. I love infusing art into the project.”

In the pre-race Family Fun Zone on Market Street, where spectators could meet the machine makers, one of the more popular entries was the “Aluminum Falcon Experience,” a detailed replica of the Millennium Falcon from “Star Wars” built by Lowell Makes, a nonprofit community-run makerspace.

Mechanical engineeringalum Joshua Landis ’22, ’24, a Lowell Makes member, helped with the construction and cheered on the team during the race.

“I love this event because it’s a big group of other nerdy people who want to combine art and engineering and have a good time,” said Landis, a Billerica native who is continuing his winning DifferenceMaker project,SparkCell, at Lowell Makes.

Two people paddle a float to shore. Image by Ed Brennen

Computer engineering major Jennifer Carmona, right, helps bring the "Capybara Express" to shore of the Merrimack River.

Seniorgraphic designmajor Matt Downie helped promote the event and chronicled race day on social media as part of his internship with the Lowell Kinetic Sculpture Race team.

“What hooked me is the community aspect,” said Downie, a Danvers native who hadn’t heard of the race until landing his internship. “You can tell the engineers and builders are serious and work incredibly hard, but the event is ‘fun first, winning second.’ It’s about the people and the experience, and I think that’s cool.”

Downie worked under the team’s creative director, graphic design alum Andrew Schuster-Morales ’20.

“What drew me to design in the first place is the idea that everything you make communicates something that can do some good,” Downie said. “Working with the Kinetic Race team reinforced that. It isn’t just, ‘We need assets for the business.’ Their passion and enthusiasm rubbed off on me and made me care more about doing the work well.”

Just as pedals make the machines go, volunteers make the race run. Mechanical engineering alum Rob Lahaie ’18, ’20, ’22, now a visiting researcher, donned a banana suit as one of the race marshals. ProvostJoe Hartman, meanwhile, wore a red cape and gold crown as one of four “Royal Judges.”

“It’s a fun day for the city, and it’s great to see the variety of this work — a perfect combination of engineering and art, which I love,” Hartman said while handing out stickers to kids before the race. “People are having fun, and anything we can do to bring the community together is pretty cool.”