Gifts Fuel Success for EcoCAR Students
Hard at work in their “Green Garage” working lab, members of the EcoCAR Challenge student team, known as the EcoEagles, are turning greenbacks into green solutions for the automotive industry, thanks to the financial support of Embry-Riddle friends and faculty.
Competing against 17 other collegiate teams in a three-year competition, Embry-Riddle’s EcoEagles are re-engineering a 2009 Saturn Vue from start to finish to be more eco-friendly. So far, they are near the top of the pack, placing 4th overall in a recent competition and earning a total of $18,250 in awards – more than any other school in the competition.
“The EcoCAR project has given students both the knowledge and the motivation to go out and be agents of environmental change,” says Dr. Darris White, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering and lead faculty advisor of the EcoCAR Challenge Team. “It is very exciting, and we could not be in this competition without the support of university friends.”
Dr. White credits much of their success to the support of Board of Trustees member David Robertson and electrical engineering department chair Al Helfrick, both of whom have contributed to the Baja SAE, Formula SAE and Formula Hybrid student teams over the years. “They allowed us to build a track record with the student automotive projects,” he explains. “We were able to leverage our prior successes in these competitions and academics to get into this [EcoCAR] competition.”
Gifts from Robertson, Helfrick and others have done more than make competition in EcoCAR possible; they’ve helped the EcoEagles win awards—like most recently, the EcoCAR Women in Engineering Award. Given by the Women in the Winner’s Circle Foundation, the award honors female engineering students who demonstrate outstanding technical excellence in the EcoCAR competition.
In addition to support from university friends, the EcoEagles received a $2.8 million gift-in-kind from The MathWorks, a sponsoring software company that provided technologies for the students to create detailed dynamics and controls models of every component of their vehicle.
“The MathWorks gift was vital to our success this year,” Dr. White says. “The students had access to every simulation tool available, as well as support from The MathWorks. In the long run, exposure to these tools will enhance the students’ careers both in terms of opportunities and richness.”
In just their first year of the competition, students have already used state of the art technologies—like hardware-in-the-loop simulation, hybrid vehicles, safety critical systems engineering and others that aren’t yet available commercially. “Exposure to these cutting edge technologies gives our students a significant advantage in the marketplace,” explains Dr. White. “This competition also opens up new opportunities for graduates in markets that might not be as familiar with Embry-Riddle.”
David Robertson—who is “absolutely fascinated with hybrid vehicle technologies” and himself, is enjoying a little automotive competition by racing professionally in the American Le Mans Series—admires the EcoEagles. “There are a lot of really brilliant students at Embry-Riddle,” he comments. “I would love to be 22 years old again and involved in a project like this. But since I can’t, I’ll support them as much as I can.”
