{"658556":{"#nid":"658556","#data":{"type":"news","title":"ECE Plays Key Role in EcoCAR Mobility Challenge Win","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMultiple members of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) contributed to the four-year project.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology has been named the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/avtcseries.org\/ecocar-mobility-challenge\/\u0022\u003EEcoCAR Mobility Challenge\u003C\/a\u003E Year Four champion by the U.S. Department of Energy\u0026nbsp;(DOE). Tech\u0026rsquo;s award-winning interdisciplinary team consists of approximately 60 undergraduate and graduate students from the College of Engineering, College of Computing, Scheller College of Business, and Georgia State University.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EEleven North American university EcoCAR teams gathered for the final challenge in Arizona from May 9-20, 2022. The event marked the culmination of the competition, which tasked the universities with applying propulsion system electrification, autonomous driving control, and vehicle-to-infrastructure connectivity, to improve the energy efficiency of a 2019 Chevrolet Blazer while maintaining safety, utility, and consumer acceptability.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EOver the four-year competition \u0026mdash; sponsored by the DOE, General Motors (GM) and MathWorks \u0026mdash; each team transformed its vehicle from a design concept into a reality. The final year of competition challenged teams to test, prove,\u0026nbsp;and refine their work from the previous three years, mimicking a real-world automotive product development cycle.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EECE professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff-directory\/david-g-taylor\u0022\u003EDavid Taylor\u003C\/a\u003E is a faculty advisor for \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/vpu\u0022\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s EcoCAR team\u003C\/a\u003E, along with professors Michael Leamy in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), and Thomas Fuller in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE).\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;The role of ECE in this competition is significant, ranging from powertrain electrification to driving automation. Our team\u0026rsquo;s vehicle excelled in these areas, winning the events concerned with energy consumption and autonomous operation,\u0026rdquo; said Taylor. \u0026ldquo;The EcoCAR program provides valuable experiences for ECE students because the real-world challenges of the project effectively supplement classroom learning.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s EcoCAR team is a $1 million research program housed under Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EVertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program\u003C\/a\u003E. VIP allows undergraduate and graduate students to participate in ambitious, long-term, multidisciplinary project teams that are led by faculty. The VIP program originated in ECE under the leadership of professor Edward Coyle.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EECE graduate research assistant (GRA) Nicholas Hummel played a key leadership role on the team along with fellow GRA Nishan Nekoo in ME. Both Hummel and Nekoo received their master\u0026rsquo;s degrees this spring. Hummel also gave the first-place presentation on Connected and Automated Vehicle Systems with recent ECE bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree graduate Joyce Zhao.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0026ldquo;I\u0026#39;ve been on the team for the past two years, and have seen it come from a nearly fully virtual format at the beginning of the pandemic to the success we\u0026#39;ve achieved this year,\u0026rdquo; said Hummel, who led the team\u0026rsquo;s driving automation efforts. \u0026ldquo;If I had not joined this team, I would never have had the opportunity to grow so much as a leader and increase my passion for automation and robotics.\u0026rdquo;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditionally, recent ECE bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree graduate Braeden Dickson, along with recent ME bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree graduate Anna Cobb, gave the first-place presentation on Propulsion Controls and Modeling. Braeden\u0026nbsp;worked on powertrain controls to convert the conventional Chevy Blazer to a hybrid electric vehicle architecture. With his efforts, Georgia Tech vehicle was the only vehicle of the competition to improve energy consumption over the stock Blazer.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2022\/05\/student-team-wins-department-energy-ecocar-mobility-challenge\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead more about the award-winning team, view pictures from the finale, and learn about future plans.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Multiple members of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) contributed to the four-year project."}],"uid":"36172","created_gmt":"2022-05-26 19:35:51","changed_gmt":"2022-05-26 23:22:23","author":"dwatson71","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2022-05-26T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2022-05-26T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"658553":{"id":"658553","type":"image","title":"In Front of Car_EcoCar Challenge","body":null,"created":"1653593153","gmt_created":"2022-05-26 19:25:53","changed":"1653593153","gmt_changed":"2022-05-26 19:25:53","alt":"Left to right: Braeden Dickson (ECE), Eric Gustafson (Woodruff School), Ed Argalas (General Motors mentor), Nick Hummel (ECE), and Nishan Nekoo (Woodruff School)","file":{"fid":"249641","name":"In Front of Car_EcoCar Challenge.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/In%20Front%20of%20Car_EcoCar%20Challenge.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/In%20Front%20of%20Car_EcoCar%20Challenge.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":155398,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/In%20Front%20of%20Car_EcoCar%20Challenge.jpeg?itok=air6Oxf_"}},"658554":{"id":"658554","type":"image","title":"Blazer_EcoCarChallenge","body":null,"created":"1653593283","gmt_created":"2022-05-26 19:28:03","changed":"1653593283","gmt_changed":"2022-05-26 19:28:03","alt":"","file":{"fid":"249642","name":"Blazer_EcoCarChallenge.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Blazer_EcoCarChallenge.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Blazer_EcoCarChallenge.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":102161,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Blazer_EcoCarChallenge.jpeg?itok=TfLqqj3M"}},"658555":{"id":"658555","type":"image","title":"EcoCar Awarded","body":null,"created":"1653593340","gmt_created":"2022-05-26 19:29:00","changed":"1653593340","gmt_changed":"2022-05-26 19:29:00","alt":"","file":{"fid":"249643","name":"EcoCarAwarded.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/EcoCarAwarded.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/EcoCarAwarded.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":112045,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/EcoCarAwarded.jpeg?itok=MXHyZEI5"}}},"media_ids":["658553","658554","658555"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/avtcseries.org\/ecocar-mobility-challenge\/","title":"EcoCAR Mobility Challenge "},{"url":"https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu\/teams\/vpu","title":"Georgia Tech EcoCAR Collegiate Competition Team "},{"url":"https:\/\/www.vip.gatech.edu","title":"Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program "},{"url":"https:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff-directory\/david-g-taylor","title":"David Taylor "}],"groups":[{"id":"1255","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42911","name":"Education"},{"id":"42921","name":"Exhibitions"},{"id":"42931","name":"Performances"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2435","name":"ECE"},{"id":"50691","name":"David Taylor"},{"id":"190699","name":"EcoCAR Mobility Challenge"},{"id":"28931","name":"U.S. Department of Energy"},{"id":"190700","name":"Tech\u2019s Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) Program"},{"id":"8673","name":"General Motors"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"39461","name":"Manufacturing, Trade, and Logistics"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDan Watson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/dwatson@ece.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Edwatson@ece.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["dwatson@ece.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}