SERIS is proud that the team ”Solaire Voyager” with Muhammad Adil, Vignesh Subramaniam  and team leader Louis Lee Wee Boon as the only team in Asia has reached the finals of an international aviation competition.The NUS team, consisting of a first-year Masters student in Materials Science and Engineering and two second-year Engineering students, will compete for the top prize of SGD 60,000 together with four other teams from Stanford University (United States), University of Queensland (Australia), Valencia Polytechnic (Spain) and Brno University (Czech Republic).

The inaugural “Fly Your Ideas” competition organised by Airbus, challenges university students worldwide to come up with novel ideas to shape the future of aviation. A total of 225 teams from 82 countries qualified for the three-round competition when it was launched last October.

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The Solaire Voyagers: (from left) second-year Engineering students Vignesh Subramaniam,
Muhammad Adil and team leader Louis Lee Wee
Boon, a first-year Masters student in Materials
Science and Engineering.

The NUS team, under the supervision of Prof Joachim Luther (CEO of SERIS) and Prof Armin Aberle (deputy CEO of SERIS), was chosen for its innovative project to save jet fuel eco-efficiently by using solar cell technology to co-power aircrafts. “We are very proud and excited that we could help the team with this promising project. The students did a great job. This project once more shows the importance of solar cell technology as a clean energy source”, said Prof Luther.

The five teams will make their final presentations before a jury of five Airbus representatives and five independent industry experts at the world famous Paris Air Show on 19 June 2009. The teams are currently putting their finishing touches to their projects with the help of an Airbus coach.