For a college student, it doesn’t get more hands-on than being a part of a student design team at Missouri S&T. This year’s competitions kicked off in March and won’t wrap up until October. Whether it involves racecars, concrete canoes or traversing Mars-like terrain, design projects offer students a healthy dose of experiential learning. Learn all about the teams at design.mst.edu.

Advanced Aero Vehicle Group
Aero Design-West
April 24–26 in Van Nuys, Calif.

Rocketry Engineering Challenge
June 26–28 in Green River, Utah

Baja SAE
May 7–10 in Baltimore

Concrete Canoe
April 25–26 in Lawrence, Kan.

Engineers Without Borders
May — Santiago, Honduras
June — Nahualate, Guatemala
August — Los Eucaliptos and Tacachia, Bolivia

Formula SAE
Formula SAE-Michigan
May 13–16 in Brooklyn, Mich.

Formula SAE-Lincoln
June 17–20 in Lincoln, Neb.

Formula SAE-Electric
June 17–20 in Lincoln, Neb.

Human-Powered Vehicle Challenge
HPVC-West
April 24–26 in San Jose, Calif.

HPVC-East
May 8–10 in Gainesville, Fla.

Hydrogen Design Solutions
TBD

iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine)
Sept. 24–28 in Boston

Mars Rover
May 28–30 in Hanksville, Utah

Robotics
June 5–8 in Rochester, Mich.

Solar Car
July 26–31 in Austin, Texas

Solar House
Oct. 8–18 in Irvine, Calif.

Steel Bridge
April 23–25 in Lawrence, Kan.