Students design roller coaster simulator at UB
by JILL SCHMELZER Ken-Ton Editor

Sabrina Gill, 16, and her mother Liveleen experience a virtual roller coaster at the University at Buffalo on Friday. Sabrina was selected for the summer Cyber-Engineering Workshop that taught the girls how to design a coaster. She is a student at Nichols High School and lives in Williamsville.

It's been quite the ride for 16 area high school girls who participated in a two-week, crash course on cyberengineering.

On Friday, the course came to an end, and the youth took a virtual-reality roller coaster adventure at the University at Buffalo's New York State Center for Engineering Design and Industrial Innovation, which was also the workshop's sponsor.

Each teen and a guest stepped into a motion-based simulator, enabling the pair to visualize and experience the effects of Cedar Points' "Maverick," without traveling to the amusement park.

The robotic-like chair, donated by Moog Inc., was raised about 4 feet off the ground and the riders were off. Up, down and side to side, the electronic device moved to the scene pictured on the 10-by-8-foot screen.

"It's 60 degrees of freedom," program supervisor Kemper Lewis said. "It's the same motion-based simulator used by Universal Studios."

The girls also got to experience a three-second glimpse of their own design, a double-dip roller coaster segment.

The youth were hand-selected to take part in the workshop after an extensive application process. Originally, according to Lewis, officials slated to accept 12 girls but had to extend it to 16 because of the number of qualified individuals.

"It's geared to attract women to the field of engineering," Lewis said, noting the workshop was funded by Fisher-Price.

"We want to get more females into the scientific world," he said.

The girls, who attended lectures from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., learned about computer-aided design, product animation, physics and databases. Fisher-Price associates also provided demonstrations about toy design. By the end of the course, each girl created her own roller coaster.

"Some I wouldn't dare to go on," Lewis said.

Williamsville resident Sabrina Gill, 16, a student at Nichols High School was one of the girls chosen.

"The coaster is really realistic. It was a a lot of fun," Gill said about experiencing the final product.

Teamed in pairs, she worked with Tara Feverstein of Kenmore East High School to create a coaster they call "Off the Track."

Gill said the experience has increased her interest in engineering.

Her mother Liveleen joined her on the final day of the workshop to "ride" the coaster.

"It was amazing, a lot easier than a real roller coaster," she said, laughing after the ride. "She told me I could handle it."

Included in the 16 participants were Tara Feverstein of Kenmore West; Cara Zimmerman, Taylor Kieffer, Jennifer Leone, Samantha Dearkin, Devon Cole and Jessica Rusch of Clarence High School; and Mary Lehner of Orchard Park.

(Editor's note: Amherst Associate Editor Jessica L. Finch contributed to this article.)