CINCINNATI (May 4, 2012) — Hankook Tire America Corp. has selected three University of Cincinnati (UC) industrial design students as winners in the “Tire Design for the Future Environment” competition staged recently by the university and the tire company.
The competition was open to third-year industrial design students in the university's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning and conducted from January through March. This is the first time Hankook has been involved in a design competition such as this.
Students were asked to create new tire designs based on their own visions of future cars, sustainability needs such as reducing and reusing raw materials used in tire production, and the importance of increasing tire efficiency and meeting specific tire performance targets.
The winners were: Ben Zavala from Pittsburgh for his TILTRED tilting tire design; Mark Hearn of Fremont, Calif., for his Motive Off-Road tire design; and Miranda Steinhauser of Gahanna, Ohio, for her TESSELA tire design.
The winning designs are undergoing patent approval and will be showcased at the 2012 Specialty Equipment Market Association Show in Las Vegas as part of Hankook's booth. Hankook did not say whether it would consider producing any of the designs.
“Our students were given the opportunity to not only understand the importance of tire designs in the overall efficiency, ecology and economy of road-bound transportation but also to apply their classroom knowledge in a real-world situation for advanced learning and increased experience,” said Raphael Zammit, associate professor of practice, coordinator of industrial design, UC.
Hankook said its decision to work with UC reflects the school's highly rated industrial design program, which is ranked as the top undergraduate industrial design program in the U.S. by Design Intelligence, a leading institution that ranks design, art and architecture colleges.
Students also have the opportunity to take part in the university's co-op program, which requires students to work every other quarter within the field of their study, giving them a strong foundation in the realistic demands of the industries they will enter.
Calvin Pak, Hankook's general manager, marketing strategy, lauded UC as an institution that places a “premium on learning, investment in its people and innovation” and said Hankook was “excited to offer students from a leading institution a chance to explore not only their potential, but the potential of future tire design as well.”
The competition centered on the importance that design is to the overall efficiency, ecology and economy for road-bound tires, Hankook said, and students were encouraged to consider the aspects that sustainability needs, such as reducing and reusing raw materials used in tire production and increased tire efficiency, can make on the environment.