Aspiring electrical engineer and Fallowfield Township native Seth Goosman was part of a team that designed a solar car entered in an Australian Outback race. Goosman, 30, has been living in Kingston, Ontario, Canada since 2003 as a student at Queens University. Hoping to land a job working with alternative energy after he graduates in the spring, Gooseman sought hands-on experience by joining a class project to build a solar car. He and 13 others formed a team that built the vehicle and entered it to the Panasonic World Solar Challenge, a biennial race that covers 1,877 miles of Outback from Darwin to Adelaide. Goosman’s job was to design and build the battery system and battery protection systems for the car. The battery system helped provide the voltage needed to run the vehicle’s motor. The event was not specifically a race. Teams had a set amount of time to pilot their vehicles from checkpoint to checkpoint. The students’ first lesson learned was to not run the car too hard, Goosman said. He said the team, at first, pushed the car beyond its limits at 65 mph to 70 mph. “We drained the battery within an hour and a half,” he said with a laugh. “We broke our motor in the process. It wasn’t designed to take all the torque we were putting on it with all the hills and whatnot. “One time, the nuts and bolts on the front suspension had been tightened too much. One of the nuts actually sheared off while we were driving.” The team backed down to an average speed of 45 mph the duration of the trip. Goosman followed along in a convoy of support vehicles, stopping periodically to set up camp and perform maintenance and repairs on the car. Despite the few technical problems during the seven-day trek, the team completed the course. Goosman became involved by chance. He saw an advertisement for the challenge on a flyer on campus and decided to join the team. “I just happened to notice it and got into it,” he said. The student said the work was a beneficial side project. “This is my first hands-on engineering experience,” he said. “I actually had to figure this stuff out myself. I had to study the particular type of battery that was to be used. I also had to design the circuitry that protects it from being overcharged and undercharged.” Goosman said he was intrigued by Australia and plans to someday vacation there. “For such a dry place, I was a bit surprised at how much was growing out there,” he said. “It was kind of rough. It’s pretty dry and hot during the day. It gets kind of cold during the night. It’s a pretty interesting place.” Born in Toronto, Goosman is unsure if he wants to work in Canada or in the Mid-Mon Valley area once he graduates. “I came to the understanding that Pittsburgh was becoming one of the high-tech centers of America,” he said when choosing a career path. “It wouldn’t be too far fetched to find myself ending up back in Fallowfield.” Goosman’s mother, Mara Lee, lives in Fallowfield Township and Ontario. His aunt, Peri Potega, lives in Fallowfield Township. His late grandfather, Edward S. Sweadner, was the long-time band director for Charleroi Area High School. Sweadner led a number of award winning bands in more than 25 years as the director.

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