Baja Society of Automotive Engineers is one of the premier global intercollegiate engineering activities available to college students, not limited solely to engineering students. Baja SAE aims to challenge students to create cars that can endure the strains of rough terrain, pushing them to collaborate with each other in team environments and high-stakes competitions. This not only prepares students for future endeavors down the line but grants them a chance to develop their Computer-Aided Design and technical skills with hands-on experience.
Colleges from all over the world compete, with the top contenders often being Rochester Institute of Technology, École de Technologie Supérieure, and University of Michigan – Ann Arbor. Here at Stevens, we have our own Baja SAE team located in the Pond Lot garage behind Martha Bayard Stevens Hall.
Although established in 2018, Stevens’ Baja is already on a fast track toward greater heights. In 2024 alone, Stevens placed within the top 25 and top 12, respectively, in the acceleration and cost events, highlighting their exceptional growth. Beyond these events, they placed in the top 50% in the hill climb event, facing a startlingly high 40-degree incline, which made this event even more challenging than previous years. Despite major challenges, Stevens pushed through difficulties and landed above significantly larger schools such as Northwestern University and New York University, a clear sign of the team’s dedication.
Stevens Baja plans for this year’s car to be far different from 2026. Ella Warnock, a 4/4 Cybersecurity major and the Corresponding Secretary of Stevens Baja, said, “This year, the car will have a major difference in the implementation of data collection sensors and systems to aid us in improving our engineering.” 4/4 Mechanical Engineering major and club Treasurer Ethan Krupka added that “while this aids us in having a better understanding of how the car drives and potential problem areas, it also creates talking points for the design presentations at competition.”
Currently, the club is experiencing an extremely rapid growth phase, to which Krupka stated, “It is a fact that [the garage] is a small workspace and with the rate that the club membership is increasing it starts to become a safety risk.”
“We do not want to implement a maximum occupancy and turn people away from the garage because they weren’t fast enough showing up, but we have to preserve a safe working environment. The only solution would be some form of expansion.” This could mean that in the future, Stevens may see a much larger base of operations for our beloved Baja team.
The Baja SAE 2027 events will take place at three separate locations in America, spanning across Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. “Historically, the competition consists of design presentations for each subsystem, four static events that test individual capabilities like acceleration and maneuverability, and a four-hour endurance race to conclude the event,” Krupka mentioned.
Warnock describes the general pipeline for Stevens Baja: “Every year, starting in the summer, we do a bulk of the design of our systems. As we enter the fall and go to the spring, we finalize our designs and manufacture the whole car. Throughout the year, we attend many events, including a testing day in the spring and business outreach events.”
Future plans for Stevens Baja include “outreaching out to more sponsors for funding and connecting with alumni to help maintain more knowledge within the club,” said Warnock, with the goal of providing club members to expand their network and connections for future prospects. Stevens Baja is a trailblazer for engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology and will only continue to grow in the years to come as they improve their cars time and time again.
