WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) today joined Mississippi State University students for a drive around Capitol Hill in the SUV they designed for the Challenge X competition, a national four-year competition to find innovative ways of redesigning a fuel efficient and environmentally friendly SUV. 

After finishing third place in the second year of the competition in 2006, the MSU team received first place last year in the competition’s third year.  The MSU students brought their SUV to Washington, D.C. this week to help raise awareness of the technology used to design the vehicle.  Later in the week, they will receive the results of the fourth year of the competition, as well as the overall four-year winner. 

“This is an amazing achievement for these Mississippi students and for our nation,” Senator Wicker said.  “This vehicle represents the promising future of hybrid technology and the fuel efficiency it is capable of.  With gasoline prices hovering around $4.00 per gallon, this group of extremely talented students couldn’t have picked a better time to highlight their achievement on Capitol Hill.” 

Noting that many of the students on the MSU team already have job offers from leading automakers, Wicker said the Challenge X competition helped showcase the abilities of Mississippi’s young people.

“Mississippi students went head-to-head with some of the brightest engineering students in the country and came out on top,” Wicker said.  “This is further proof that, given the right tools and opportunities, our young people can compete with anyone.  These students are on their way to becoming future leaders in this field of critical importance to our nation’s future.”

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