Arctic lab to use undergrads' electric sled

POTSDAM — Next stop, Greenland.

A converted electric snowmobile designed by Clarkson University undergraduates is heading to the Greenland Environmental Observatory to help scientists there collect environmental data. The zero-emissions snowmobile took second place at the 2010 Society for Automotive Engineering’s Clean Snowmobile Challenge.

The prize for the top two teams is a two-month trip to Greenland for the snowmobile and 10 days for one of the students on the team. Scott J. Keefe, a senior electrical engineering student, was selected to go to Greenland to show the scientists how to use the Clarkson machine.

“Historically, the first-place team takes its snowmobile to Greenland. I didn’t realize that the first- and second-place teams would be going,” said Robert J. Davis, director of the university’s Student Projects for Engineering Experience and Design program. “As the technology improves every year, they’re finding, ‘Hey, this is pretty useful; let’s get more than one up here.’”