NJ Pathways Alumni Spotlight: Richard Boada Maldonado, Bergen Community College Class of 2023
Bergen Community College, Class of 2023
Richard Boada Maldonado, Bergen Community College (BCC) alumnus of the class of 2023, served as the research lead of the electric go-kart development project within the STEM Student Scholar (3SP) Program at BCC.
“Bergen gave me the opportunity to shine as a student and future engineer,” said Boada. “I was interested in electric vehicles and showing people that they are not as complex as they seem, so I started my research project on a program to acquaint future generations with EVs.”
Leading his team to make their vision a reality, Boada and his teammates, Sebastian Mattio-Smith (‘24) and John Griffith (‘23), engineered a fully functional one-seater electric go-kart prototype with a top speed of 40 mph and a driving time of approximately two hours at 80 percent power with an adult driver. The team developed the go-kart in the BCC’s STEM Student Research Center – the nation’s only one of its kind at a community college.
NJ Pathways Alumni Spotlight: Richard Boada Maldonado, Bergen Community College Class of 2023
The team presented their electric-go kart prototype at the Community College Innovation Challenge sponsored by the National Science Foundation and American Association of Community Colleges as one of 12 finalists. The innovation challenge spotlights community college student teams working with faculty mentors to use STEM in solving real-world problems. The team earned the bid on the strength of their electric go-kart project and even had the chance to present their results for government officials on Capitol Hill.
“Representing Bergen Community College at a national competition was surreal,” said Boada. “The fact that our project is among the top twelve STEM Projects in the United States shows that hard work will find a way to blossom and reveal itself to the world.”
Expressing his gratitude to the STEM Department at BCC, Boada thanked his faculty mentor and professor PJ Ricatto, Ph.D. “Dr. Ricatto has been the voice of wisdom and has always given me a new perspective on whatever I had in mind,” said Boada. “Collaborating with truly good people and professors of such a high caliber was delightful.”
Boada is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering with a minor in applied mathematics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
