This REU site program will engage undergraduate students in research experiences focused in the area of hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (HEV and PHEV) technologies. Undergraduate students will be part of a research team which will include faculty, graduate Ph.D. candidates, post-doctoral research associates and technicians. In addition to the research experiences, the students will participate in group meetings, seminars, and tours of industry facilities. Ethics training is an integral part of this program. Activities in ethics will be organized in coordination with the Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions (CSEP) which was established in 1976. CSEP is one of the nation's leading ethics centers, and is internationally recognized for its work on ethics in science and engineering. At the end of the program the participants will make formal presentations of their work at the IEEC Vehicle Power and Propulsion annual meeting.
As the US continues to rely more and more upon vehicular transportation, the looming problems of fuel supply and pollution become more imminent. An immediate solution to this problem is essential, and the most promising solution lies in HEV and PHEV technologies. Automotive industries and research laboratories nationwide are pursuing electric and hybrid vehicle research seriously and the automotive industry is going through major reconstruction. This program will train and educate students in an effort to address the emerging workforce and educational needs of the U.S. automotive industry. The PI will place special emphasis on recruitment of underrepresented minorities for the program.
?This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.?
One of the significant impacts of the project was educating undergraduate students in the strategic field of advanced sustainable transportation systems. There are over 250 million registered passenger vehicles in the U.S. Over 40% green house gas and 70% of emissions comes from transportation and transportation is 99% dependent on one source of the fuel, which is petroleum. The automotive industry is going through a major restructuring to introduce next generation of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV); therefore, it is critical to train young minds in this field. Through NSF support, 30 undergraduate students participated in the NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) summer site program on Hybrid Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles from summer 2009 to summer 2011 at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). The purpose of this NSF summer REU program was to provide an opportunity for undergraduate students to be involved in a deeper experience in research areas related to hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and PHEVs through training them in basic research as well as providing them laboratory experiences. The program focused on recruiting brilliant undergraduates, specifically from underrepresented groups, and inspiring them to pursue graduate studies in the field of Hybrid Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles technologies. Among 2009-2011 more than fifty percent of participants were from underrepresented groups in engineering. This program has been especially beneficial for motivating undergraduates to pursue careers or graduate studies in Hybrid Electric and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles related technologies. This program exposed participants to the broader implications of their research with lectures from experts, tours of industry facilities, and student-mentor weekly meetings. Furthermore, students were trained to integrate the ethics as an integral part of their research. This is achieved through lectures from ethics professionals, weekly ethical meetings, discussions and training into all aspects of the students’ experience. Based on students’ feedback and post-test survey, it was clear that majority of the participants are either pursuing graduate degrees or motivated to pursue careers in engineering. The outcomes and results of students’ research have been disseminated through submitting and presenting research papers to refereed national and international conferences and journals.
