Team PrISUm, Iowa State’s solar car team, recently had one of its cars immortalized as an exhibit at the Bluedorn Science Imaginarium, a science museum in Waterloo.

Nick Mohr, project director for Team PrISUm, said the car being exhibited is PrISUm II, which placed tenth in Sunrayce ’93, a solar car race held every two years.

“Until this past summer, it had finished better than any car that Iowa State has ever made,” said Mohr, junior in mechanical engineering.

He said after each Sunrayce, the cars retire from racing and are then used for educational purposes.

The car had been used in 14 educational outreach events, during which PrISUm team members present their past cars, he said.

“We have a mission to educate the public on alternative energy technologies as well as get them excited in engineering as a career path,” Mohr said.

Erin Isvik, outreach coordinator for Team PrISUm, said the exhibit is a good opportunity for other people around the state to see the car.

“Most people have never seen a working solar car, and we have to make it seem not so foreign to them,” said Isvik, freshman in computer engineering.

She said they have shown off their cars to all grade levels from elementary school students to college-level students, and they have driven the cars in various parades. All of these exhibitions were part of the outreach program, she said.

Mohr said it was at one of the educational outreach events that he met a museum coordinator from Bluedorn Science Imaginarium and, after some discussion, decided to place PrISUm II on display at the museum.

The team is excited about having one of their cars on exhibit, he said.

“It really fulfills one of the goals of the team mission to have one of their vehicles on display in a museum that’s so focused on science education for children of a variety of ages, who wouldn’t normally be exposed to this type of technology,” he said.