12
LA NOVITÀ
What kind of relationship do you have with
IndyCar and the Motor Speedway?
«We have an excellent relationship with the
Speedway, which is one of the sponsors and
financial backers of the M-STEM project. The
International Motor Speedway also plays
host to our "evGrandPrix Collegiate Go Kart
Series" event in May, where students from
all over the US and beyond meet to
challenge each other on the drawing board
and the track. The IMS also sponsors the
magnetic vehicles and electric go-karts in
which the middle and high schools challenge
each other in the May event. As far as
IndyCar is concerned, we support all their
requirements. Danny White, director of
Motorsports at Purdue University, attends
various IndyCar events and two of the cars
that compete in the IndyCar series include
our logo in their livery. We have a formal
agreement with the Brian Herta Autosport
and Dreyer and Reinbold teams. We are also
weighing up the possibility of entering into
partnership with the American teams that
participate in Formula E: we want to carry
on developing. What we are looking for is a
kind of experience that is continuously
evolving for our students at Purdue, so that
they start on go-karts before maybe moving
on to Formula E and even taking a up a
position in IndyCar, and all thanks to a
degree from Purdue».
How many students do you aim to involve
in this project? It is possible to involve
students from other States too?
«There are two answers to that question. As
far as M-STEM is concerned, we are currently
developing the curriculum, in partnership
with two educational establishments. Next
year, the initial activity in the middle
schools will involve around 300 students. As
soon as we have finished developing and
evaluating the courses in these two schools
we intend to expand our activities to cover a
wider range of schools. The first stage will
be concentrated in the educational districts
in Indianapolis around the Speedway. In
May 2014, during the week before the 500
mile Pole Day, the Speedway will be hosting
an educational fair, where mathematics
teachers and education managers will be
introduced to M-STEM course and learn how
to integrate them into their school syllabus
for the year 2014-15. Our aim is to involve
tens of thousands of K-12 students, if not
more, from all parts of the State of Indiana,
and make M-STEM an integral part of the
mathematics courses. On a wider scale the
aim is to expand the M-STEM curricula to
the whole of the United States. We are
currently evaluating the kind of
collaborations that will be necessary to
achieve this. As far as Motorsport-at-Purdue
(MAP), i.e. the organisation that unites the
students who are interested in Motorsports,
is concerned, the current membership stands
at about 300. Given the strongly
international character of our University, a
good percentage of these come from abroad.
Every year we place 3 or 4 students on work
experience programs with Indycar teams,
and last year we did the same thing with
USAC. All our work experience candidates
over the last 4 years subsequently obtained
full time jobs with Motorsport teams after
they graduated. The most recent was taken
on by Pratt and Miller, and the one before
that joined Andretti Autosports».
How important is Motorsport as a possible
employment opening for your graduates?
«As I was saying, at Purdue we have an
organisation called MAP, Motorsport-at-
Purdue. MAP offers Purdue students the
chance to learn all they need to know about
the various aspects of the Motorsports
industry. It’s very difficult to find a job with
an IndyCar team, but throughout its first
four years our students have acted as
excellent ambassadors for the MAP project.
Several have been taken on by IndyCar
teams, where they have got on well, and as
a result we now receive frequent requests for
our members. MAP offers a different
prospect to traditional Motorsports projects.
Many of these provide students with a
generalised grounding, and introductory
knowledge to a range of disciplines, whereas
at Purdue the students all
graduate in their own
main subject
(aeronautical engineering,
mechanical engineering,
communications, etc.),
which means that when
they graduate they are
fully up to date with the
latest developments in
their chosen field. MAP also provides them
with a broad overview of the Motorsports
industry, explaining how the specific
knowledge involved in their chosen subject is
implemented. This means that when the
students start work with their new teams
they already have extensive knowledge,
together with a complete vision of the
Motorsports sector, while the teams know
that they can count on an expert whose
specialist skills and knowledge are tailored
to the sector – in other words, exactly the
type of preparation that an IndyCar team
needs in order to compete at the highest
level. We furnish the teams with excellent
students who can be developed according to
the specific needs of the team, without
contaminating them with old techniques
and bad habits».
In the future are there any plans for
Purdue University and Dallara Automobili
to establish a centre of excellence with
branches in Italy and the States?
«We have a very open mind about this. We
greatly appreciate our collaboration with
Dallara and hope that it continues to
develop in order to improve the quality of
teaching in the Motorsports area all over the
world. It all depends on two factors: the
supply of and demand for students of that
level, and the ability to secure the funds
necessary to develop a program of that
nature».
Are you in contact with any Italian
universities with a view to creating a
harmonised course that would lead to an
international degree in Motosport?
«It has been suggested, and we are open to
the idea, but there hasn’t been any contact
yet».
Stefano Semeraro
Danny White
