Purdue M-STEM3 Program Adds Partner

The evGrandPrix is held each year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Purdue University says a new partnership between its M-STEM3 program and Indianapolis-based Top Kart USA will help the program’s efforts to go national. Top Kart will be the official electric vehicle chassis supplier for the program.

Top Kart Business Development Manager Bill McLaughlin says the partnership allows his company to tap into a new market by producing chassis for electric vehicles.

"This partnership with Purdue is very exciting for us and the direction we want our company to head in the coming years," said McLaughlin. "Within our own state there are over 1,500 public and private high school systems that we would like to introduce the Purdue M-STEM³ program to. We have begun to establish relationships in Europe that will be essential in bringing the program to the world as well."

Danny White, director of motorsports at Purdue says the M-STEM3 program, which stands for Motorsports STEM for Manufacturing and Medicine, has been gaining interest among high schools throughout the country. The program uses racing to spark interest in STEM among students and hosts the evGrandPrix each May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

"I am very vested in the success of this program, and when I went looking for a partner to help us build the program I was looking for a similar company that shared my passion about this product," said White. "After my initial meeting with Top Kart it was evident we had a match. Purdue will be Top Kart’s exclusive engineering and technology academic partner."

In October, Purdue announced it had signed a three-year deal to become the exclusive engineering and technology academic partner of the World Karting Association. As a result, the WKA will become the sanctioning body of the evGrandPrix.