"Luckily, we didn't tear up the motor. It actually would have been a $16, 000 event if we would have."
Scott TolbertUND engineering professor

UND's first hydrogen powered car held its own and turned heads last week in a solar car competition in Topeka, Kan., according to a UND team adviser.

The car, SubZero IV, though not solar powered, was allowed to run in the Formula Sun Grand Prix as an exhibit, and to see if might qualify for the grand-daddy of alternative energy races, the North America Solar Challenge, later this summer.

Scott Tolbert, a UND engineering professor, said SubZero qualified for the solar challenge, which will run Texas to Calgary, Alta., through Grand Forks. UND's Society for Energy Alternatives also qualified nine of its members to compete in the big race.

"The team has done pretty well down here," Tolbert said.

The car will be considered an exhibition entry in the solar challenge as well.

They qualified despite motor troubles after the second day of the three-day Grand Prix, Tolbert said.

"Luckily, we didn't tear up the motor," Tolbert said. "It actually would have been a $16,000 event if we would have."

SubZero ran 163 laps around the 2.1-mile closed course at Heartland Park in Topeka. It traveled more than 340 miles in that time, achieving a fuel efficiency of 50 miles per gallon.

Tolbert said the team ran SubZero in a stripped down fashion with no body or shell. With the body, he figured the car could get as much as 80 miles per gallon.

SubZero's fuel cell uses hydrogen to produce electricity to move the car. Tolbert said SubZero was able to keep up with the faster solar-powered cars.

The UND team also won the Grand Prix's Technical Achievement Award for its efforts to build and run the hydrogen fuel cell model.

Another Fulbright

Richard Shafer, UND communication professor, has been awarded a Fulbright grant to teach and conduct research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for the 2005-2006 academic year.

This will be his seventh Fulbright grant.

At NTU, Shafer will teach courses in American Media History and advanced reporting. He also will supervise teams of student reporters who are covering Tsunami disaster clean up efforts throughout Southeast Asia.

Good counseling

Mary L. (Martian) Fontes, of Northland Community and Technical College in East Grand Forks, recently was named the Minnesota post-secondary counselor of the year by the Minnesota School Counselors Association.

Fontes was recognized at the association's annual conference May 15 in St. Cloud, Minn.

"Mary is truly dedicated to the field of counseling and working with students," said Kent Hanson, provost of NCTC in East Grand Forks.

Hanson said, because of Fontes' skills, he offered her the position of associate dean of student services at the college.

Speak English?

Grand Forks always has been a diverse community with many people whose primary language is not English. UND now has an English Language Center to help people get a better handle on speaking it.

The center helps students with intensive English language instruction needed to succeed in an American or other English-speaking university, or to enhance business English skills.

"Not a day goes by that a class doesn't begin with questions like, 'What does you-betcha mean?'" said Jill Shafer, the center's director.

The center is located at 2951 Second Ave. N.

Students have the option of living in UND residence halls or with host families in the community. Classes are open to the public.