Fountain Hills High School
Research Club Making Gas Engine Green Thanks to Help of Local Retired Engineers

FOUNTAIN HILLS - January 25, 2009 - Many Arizonans choose to wile away retirement on golf courses, tennis courts or in other leisurely pursuits.

A group of retired engineers from Fountain Hills, however, are taking a more active approach to retirement.  Rather than focusing on recreation, the group of Bob Leach, Phil Graziano, Bob Hoge, Hugh Henry and Tony Pistilli are rolling up their sleeves and sharing their knowledge as mentors for students from the Fountain Hills High School Research Club.  Together, the engineers and students are currently modifying a four-piston small MG gasoline engine.

Their objective?  The team of students and engineers wants to ‘go green’ by modifying the current gas-powered engine for use with alternative fuels - specifically propane, methane and hydrogen.

Under the leadership of Dr. Paul McElligott, the science chair at Fountain Hills High School, six of the Research Club’s nearly 40 members and their mentors have made significant progress thus far.  McElligott said the engine has been mounted and pressure and monitoring gauges have been installed. Currently the group is tinkering in the “…wonderful world of carburetors,” according to McElligott. 

“The goal of the project is ultimately to have a working, real-sized engine to use to teach classes in engineering and motor technology, our newest class on campus,” McElligott explained.

The project as a whole could easily serve as a case-study for community partnership in education. After learning about the engine modification project, Graziano, a Fountain Hills realtor, acted as the driving force to bring the retired engineers together.

As for how the engine arrived on the Fountain Hills High School campus?  That can be attributed to the power of good PR!

The work on the Fountain Hills High School Research Club has been widely publicized recently.  And for good reason!  This group of student scholars is working on a bevy of
impressive projects, including:

• Building its own alternative fuel vehicle that is a registered contender in the multimillion dollar Progressive Automotive X Prize competition
• Installing a $10,000 high tech (one of a kind) solar test system in stages at the Fountain Hills High School Einstein Building

In addition, McElligott himself is a frequent “Letter to the Editor” contributor to local publications regarding topics of education.  The combined publicity managed to catch the eye of John Sickafoose, Scottsdale Community College’s chemistry department chair.

The wheels were in motion for the engine project to get its engine!

“(Sickafoose) showed me this engine that was somewhat modified,” McElligott explained.  “He said as soon as he received the College’s approval, he would donate it to us.  Within a year, we had the engine on campus.”

More information about the exciting work of the Fountain Hills High School Research Club can be found at http://www.hs.fountainhillsschools.org/index.cfm?pID=1506 or on Dr. McElligott’s personal website, http://www.pjmcelligottcom.com/