Led by senior mechanical engineering student Micah Zell of Elizabethtown, Cedarville University's supermileage team won a technical innovation award at the 2021 Shell Eco-Marathon Americas Off-Track Awards for its vehicle's hydraulic brake system.

Zell began developing the brakes as a sophomore and implemented them this past year in accordance with Shell's new hydraulic brake requirement. This requirement was meant to address the issue of teams adjusting their cable-brake systems after passing the competition's required brake-strength test. Larry Zavodney, senior professor of mechanical engineering, noted that Zell had to redesign the front end of the vehicle and make other modifications.

In addition to being recognized for this technical innovation at the Shell awards, the supermileage team recently presented a second vehicle at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) supermileage competition.