Meet Team CMU Chippewa Performance

A group of students standing around one of the Baja cars in a parking lotBaja SAE is a collegiate design series organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers that challenges students to engineer, fabricate, and race developmental single passenger off-road vehicles. The Baja SAE Team is a real-world manufacturing project that teaches students not only skills in the realm of engineering and technology, but business skills such as logistics and marketing as well.

Each team's goal is to design and build a single-seat, all-terrain, sporting vehicle. Along with the build process, each team must make their vehicle reliable, serviceable, ergonomic, and economical to produce. This vehicle should be able to be produced at a size of approximately 4,000 units per year. The vehicle should aspire to market-leading performance in terms of speed, handling, ride, and ruggedness over various off-road conditions while maintaining a great value. Each vehicle is judged upon these attributes by industry professionals along with a series of dynamic races designed to push the limits of the vehicle.

A group of students standing with 2 CMU Baja cars in front of the CMU Arch.Not only does CMU Chippewa Performance provide students with a thrilling pass-time, but we also build students into industry-ready professionals. The team teaches students to be well-rounded, professional, and sharpens problem solving skills. Most importantly, we can proudly say we have a 100% post-graduation employment rate among active members!”

Meet the team

    • President & Manufacturing Lead: Gavin Kelly
    • Vice President & Drivetrain lead: Tyler Cook
    • Public Relations: David Schlismann
    • Suspension & Suspension Lead: Ryan Armstrong
    • Brake Lead: Tyler Dewitt
    • Faculty Advisor: Ben Ritter

    • Gavin Kelly- Senior, Mechanical Engineering
    • Tyler Cook- Senior, Interior Design
    • Ryan Armstrong- Senior, Mechanical Engineering
    • Ethan Grentz - Senior, Electrical Engineering
    • Tyler Dewitt- Junior, Mechanical Engineering
    • Brady Tomlinson- Sophomore, Electrical Engineering
    • Reese McLean - Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering
    • Taylor Parker - Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering 
    • Isiah Gauda - Sophomore , Mechanical Engineering 
    • Devin Funnell - Sophomore, Mechanical Engineering 
    • David Schlismann - Freshman, Business Administration
    • Austin Gulick - Freshman, Mechanical Engineering 
    • Cooper Cogswell- Freshman, Mechanical Engineering 
    • Haiden Powell - Freshman, Mechanical Engineering 

    Join Baja

    Baja SAE is open to all majors and class standings. To join, simply come to our meetings at 7pm on Monday and Wednesday nights in ET 139! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at:  cmusaebaja@cmich.edu.

    Contact us