Arizona State University
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Arizona State University, Formula SAE
Dear Mr. Nicholas – I am writing to you as a member of the Arizona State University Formula SAE team. Hosted and organized by the International Society of Automotive Engineers, the Formula SAE Collegiate Design Competition seeks to prepare students for the various careers (be they engineering or not) that they will pursue upon their entry into the professional workforce. The members of Formula SAE teams are required to build an open-wheeled formula-type racing vehicle, with almost every aspect of the design, fabrication, and testing of the end product being solely the premise of the undergraduate students that compose the team. Our team at Arizona State University has fielded its first car in over a decade this past summer, and placed an extremely respectable 24th out of 80 participating teams. The vehicles are judged not only on their performance on the race track, but also on the marketability of the vehicle, the complexity and sophistication of the mechanical design, and the overall cost of the project. In short, Formula SAE is arguably the pinnacle of undergraduate student projects, and is now being used as hiring criteria by major automotive manufacturers such as Honda and Ford Motor Company. My primary reason for reaching out to you is to request your assistance in helping our team continue the tremendous growth and success we have experience this past year. Despite overwhelming odds in the form of both monetary and manpower insufficiencies, a dedicated team of 4 people worked for 20 hours a day, for 2 months straight in order to manufacture and field this race car. Despite having a budget that was a mere fraction of what other teams in the nation have at their disposal, our team was capable of outperforming 56 other teams, many of which had budgets that exceeded $100,000 while ours was a modest $20,000. What our team has done is nothing short of incredible; however we cannot reasonably expect to carry this momentum into the following year without help from sponsors. We are confident that if we are able to raise sufficient funds, we will be able to place in the top ten teams in the nation, if not the top five. Such a feat would not only be extremely rewarding for us, but also for those organizations and businesses that were kind enough to sponsor our team. The Formula SAE competitions draw an international business audience from numerous industries, presenting a unique exposure opportunity for Hard Dollar Corporation. The Hard Dollar logo would be visible on our racecar livery, on our team t-shirts, and on our pit area banner. The benefits of such high visibility in such a prestigious event with such a distinguished audience could be immense. In short, Formula SAE presents a unique and unparalleled opportunity to prepare students for their future careers. They learn technical engineering skills, certainly, but also team dynamics, leadership, project management, and budget/ deadline constraints – all skills that employers always look for, but rarely see in recently graduated applicants. The Formula SAE team at Arizona State University is asking for your help in order to bring this invaluable experience to future generations of students, so as to ensure that this program leaves a lasting legacy behind for all those that follow. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read and consider this request, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Dear Mr. Nicholas – I am writing to you as a member of the Arizona State University Formula SAE team. Hosted and organized by the International Society of Automotive Engineers, the Formula SAE Collegiate Design Competition seeks to prepare students for the various careers (be they engineering or not) that they will pursue upon their entry into the professional workforce. The members of Formula SAE teams are required to build an open-wheeled formula-type racing vehicle, with almost every aspect of the design, fabrication, and testing of the end product being solely the premise of the undergraduate students that compose the team. Our team at Arizona State University has fielded its first car in over a decade this past summer, and placed an extremely respectable 24th out of 80 participating teams. The vehicles are judged not only on their performance on the race track, but also on the marketability of the vehicle, the complexity and sophistication of the mechanical design, and the overall cost of the project. In short, Formula SAE is arguably the pinnacle of undergraduate student projects, and is now being used as hiring criteria by major automotive manufacturers such as Honda and Ford Motor Company. My primary reason for reaching out to you is to request your assistance in helping our team continue the tremendous growth and success we have experience this past year. Despite overwhelming odds in the form of both monetary and manpower insufficiencies, a dedicated team of 4 people worked for 20 hours a day, for 2 months straight in order to manufacture and field this race car. Despite having a budget that was a mere fraction of what other teams in the nation have at their disposal, our team was capable of outperforming 56 other teams, many of which had budgets that exceeded $100,000 while ours was a modest $20,000. What our team has done is nothing short of incredible; however we cannot reasonably expect to carry this momentum into the following year without help from sponsors. We are confident that if we are able to raise sufficient funds, we will be able to place in the top ten teams in the nation, if not the top five. Such a feat would not only be extremely rewarding for us, but also for those organizations and businesses that were kind enough to sponsor our team. The Formula SAE competitions draw an international business audience from numerous industries, presenting a unique exposure opportunity for Hard Dollar Corporation. The Hard Dollar logo would be visible on our racecar livery, on our team t-shirts, and on our pit area banner. The benefits of such high visibility in such a prestigious event with such a distinguished audience could be immense. In short, Formula SAE presents a unique and unparalleled opportunity to prepare students for their future careers. They learn technical engineering skills, certainly, but also team dynamics, leadership, project management, and budget/ deadline constraints – all skills that employers always look for, but rarely see in recently graduated applicants. The Formula SAE team at Arizona State University is asking for your help in order to bring this invaluable experience to future generations of students, so as to ensure that this program leaves a lasting legacy behind for all those that follow. I would like to thank you for taking the time to read and consider this request, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.
