Penn College Baja SAE

Gifts to the Baja SAE team empower refinement of skills and competition with larger universities on an international stage.

Message from the Team

We’ve traveled more than 20,000 miles to test our skills, and this year, we will travel less than 10 miles as Penn College will host a Baja SAE competition, May 16–19, at the Heavy Equipment Operations Site. Dubbed Baja SAE Williamsport, the international event is expected to attract 80-plus teams and about 800 competitors. And we are excited!

Competition Details

The competition requires schools to design, manufacture, and build a single-seat, all-terrain vehicle. Following two days of technical inspections and presentations, the teams compete in a series of dynamic events that challenge all aspects of their handiwork.

Penn College's Competition History

For a decade we’ve placed among the nation’s elite at the Baja SAE Collegiate Design competitions. 13 top-10 finishes in the endurance race, including wins in 2022 at Baja SAE Tennessee Tech and Baja SAE Rochester besting the likes of Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Cornell, Rochester Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Auburn, Texas A&M, and ETS Montreal!

This victory is the culmination of years of effort by past teams who established and built upon a solid foundation. The realization of how many teams before us have been aiming for this makes our wins somewhat surreal. We are grateful for the alumni who built a solid foundation before us and the supporters who continue to empower us. We are able to do what we do because of the support received from individuals and sponsors. Monetary donations and gifts of raw materials, tooling, or miscellaneous supplies help our team operate efficiently and compete on an international stage.

Interested in volunteering at Baja SAE Williamsport?

Contact Maria Weisser at 570.320.8020 or mew9@pct.edu.

We invite your support this year!

Make a gift

Our People

The Baja team brings real-world application to a student-level learning event. Every aspect of our car is designed, manufactured, and tested by students of the team.

Marshall Fowler '24

Engineering Design Technology, Baja SAE Club President

Read the Blog Post

Sponsorship Opportunities

Annual recognition occurs July 1, 2023–June 30, 2024.
To receive all recognition benefits, all sponsorships must be confirmed by March 31, 2024.

Sponsor Booklet
Ansys
Hardinge
Kiewit

Be the first team gold sponsor

Be the first team silver sponsor

  • Tyler J. Bandle '21
  • Harold Beck & Sons, Inc.
  • Cheryl E. Riley
  • Kristopher '00 & Becky '03 Shaner
  • Joe Stump

 

Be the first event meal sponsor

Be the first event snack sponsor

Be the first event water sponsor

Help us strengthen the legacy

 
Our People

Helping lead the Baja team has by far been the most influential experience in the foundation of my career path. In this position, I am not only met with a great deal of my own adversity, but I regularly help lead others through theirs.

Dakota Harrison '22

Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Machinist, Flex-Cell Precision, Inc.

Meet Dakota

In the News

11.21.2023

Transformation for Baja competition underway at training site

Work has begun at Pennsylvania College of Technology's heavy construction equipment operations training site in readiness for the estimated 1,000 competitors expected for the international Baja SAE competition next spring. The college will host about 100 teams – each with single-seat, all-terrain vehicles that they've designed and manufactured – that will converge there from May 16-19 for Baja SAE Williamsport.

11.06.2023

Transformational gift boosts manufacturing education

A $1 million grant from the Gene Haas Foundation sparked extensive renovations to Pennsylvania College of Technology’s automated manufacturing lab while expanding scholarship offerings and enabling the college to promote manufacturing careers more broadly to K-12 students. The Gene Haas Center for Innovative Manufacturing was formally dedicated on Nov. 6.

11.02.2023

Hardinge Inc. donates machining center to Penn College

A global machine tool builder has donated machinery to benefit the Baja SAE team and academic programs at Pennsylvania College of Technology. Hardinge Inc. recently provided the college with an XR 1000 high-performance vertical machining center. Valued at $144,900, the milling machine is equipped with the latest spindle technology and configured for 4-axis machining.

The Pennsylvania College of Technology Foundation, Inc. and Pennsylvania College of Technology are nonprofit 501(C)(3) tax-exempt organizations.