The BAA Teams Committee has three funding opportunities available to current buggy teams for the 2025-2026 academic year:

We are continuing to offer our New Build Grant. If your team has not rolled a new buggy in the past 4 years, the BAA will reimburse up to $500 of build related expenses. This applies to new and ongoing builds.

In addition to the New Build Grant, we’re excited to announce the availability of a Retrofit Grant. This grant is available to fund up to $300 for retrofits on any currently non-rollable buggy to make it rollable and bylaws compliant.

Both of these grants are handled on a reimbursement basis. Reach out to Diya Nuxoll <diyanuxoll@cmubuggy.org> if you are interested in taking advantage of this funding!

And finally, as a continuation of our previous Hard Point Retrofit Funding, the BAA has provided Sweepstakes with funds to bulk purchase the supplies required for the recommended hard point retrofit methodology. If you are interested in performing this retrofit, please contact the RD26 Sweepstakes Mechanical Safety Chair, Sam Green <slgreen@andrew.cmu.edu>.

As always, even if none of these apply to your team, reach out to the BAA Teams Committee if you would like help finding sustainable sources of funding for your team, need advice to support your build, or need to find an extra set of hands for a critical work session.

A few quick news updates from the BAA!

First, congratulations to Cynthia Xu, who has been elected as our new Comms chair! Cynthia is a 2023 SPIRIT Alum and we’re excited to have her join the board!

Second, we recently sent out our October member’s newsletter. If you are a member (check the list), and you didn’t get it in your email, please make sure we have your most recent contact information by filling in this member update form.

Finally, we’re running a survey for everyone who considers themself a part of the buggy community to let us know what matters most to you. Regardless of if you are a student, alumni, or just a fan, please give us your feedback!

Happy Thursday buggy fans!

We at the BAA Teams Committee are taking advantage of a weekend without rolls to run our first ever “Composites 101” course for current buggy students.

When? Saturday 9/28, 2-3pm
Where? Wean Hall, 4625

We’ll be covering topics such as:

• What are the pros and cons of different carbon fiber weave types?
• What are the best core material choices for a team on a budget?
• What is the difference between a wet layup and resin infusion? Can I use the same materials? And what the heck is prepreg carbon fiber?
• How do we validate composite parts in industry… and why does that not necessarily work for us in the buggy world?

This course is geared to be accessible to new teams and freshmen buggy mechanics– but there should be plenty of interesting info for more experienced buggy mechanics as well.

Alumni– no need to feel left out! If you’re interested in getting involved with the BAA Teams Committee, to help us expand our collection of open-source buggy resources, please email Diya (BAA Quartermaster / Teams Committee Lead) at diyanuxoll@cmubuggy.org.