ChemE car team competes at North Central Student Regional Conference
block
The UIC Chemical Engineering Car team won first place in the poster competition at the recent annual 2026 AIChE North Central Student Regional Conference hosted by Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
The car team competed at the competition alongside almost 20 other schools including the Ohio State University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Trine University, Indiana University, and more.
“I enjoyed checking out the other schools’ cars—in terms of the mechanisms they used and the ways they decorated it including going all out with glitter,” said Bryan Samayoa, a junior on the car team.
The car team is comprised of freshman Thuy Tram Dang, sophomore Nhat Duy Nguyen, juniors Servando Casillas-Gabarito, Brian Garcia, Mariya Krutnyk, Anthony Ortiz, Peter James Postlewait, Liv Lyons, and Bryan Samayoa (Captain), and senior Joshua Olusoji.
The team was funded by the Athena Visual, a company owned by Michael Caracotsios, UIC Chemical Engineering Associate Professor Michael Caracotsios.
“I didn’t want them to miss out on the opportunity or experience of the conference,” Caracotsios said.