Where Are They Now: Penn State’s Cheyenne Foran

From the Penn State EcoCAR garage to the Motor City, Cheyenne Foran’s interest in the automotive industry races through her veins. Now a Talent Acquisition Brandon & Social Engagement Program Manager,  Foran first acquired her automotive skills when she was placed on the Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team (PSU AVT) through Happy Valley Communications, a student-lead PR firm in State College, Pennsylvania. It was here that she was first introduced to the EcoCAR 2 project.

Foran was part of Penn State’s 2012-2013 award-winning EcoCAR 2 Year Two team, which brought home PSU’s first-ever Overall First Place win in the EcoCAR program! The following year she held the position of communications manager for PSU AVT and gained valuable PR skills, along with a some more in depth knowledge of hybrid technologies. And to top it all off, PSU AVT also introduced Foran to her (now) husband, a fellow team member!

Following graduation, Foran was able to obtain amazing opportunities with Weber Shandwick and TRW Automotive – now known as ZF Friedrichshafen AG. She attributed all of these successes to her experiences with the EcoCAR 2 program.

Foran believes working as the communications manager during her undergraduate career gave her a leg up in the industry, compared to other young PR professionals who were solely learning about communications in the classroom . Her experiences led her to become the first social media specialist for TRW Automotive, where she was given the responsibility to lead global social media initiatives.

Foran also thanks the EcoCAR program for giving her a group of lifelong friends that have also moved to Michigan to pursue careers in the automotive industry.

Foran currently works for HARMAN International and recently received her master’s degree in strategic communications at The University of Iowa. She believes this degree will help expand her current industry knowledge and allow her to specialize her skills in digital and social communications.

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Where Are They Now: MSU & GT Alumni, Lee Sargent

Written by: Malea Fernandes, Georgia Tech

The Georgia Tech team worked hard throughout the EcoCAR 3 competition. Although the team experienced a few hiccups during the first year of competition, that did not stop Lee Sargent from joining the team in Year Two.  As an Atlanta native, Lee was first introduced to Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTC’s) when he was in middle school. His love for automotive technology and electrical engineering began with a college visit to Mississippi State University, Where his older sister had attended school. There was a similar AVTC taking place at the university called Challenge X, This particular visit is what sparked an interest in Lee at a very young age.

After high school, Lee enrolled at MSU and went on to join the EcoCAE 2 competition back in 2011, upon which he served for three consecutive years. After receiving his B.S in Electrical Engineering from MSU, Lee was eager to continue his experience with EcoCAR. In hopes to join the competition for another year, he enrolled at Georgia Tech for graduate school. Lee always had an affinity for Georgia Tech as an Atlanta native, and always assumed that he would go to Georgia Tech.

Despite their first-year struggles, Lee was eager to join the team, and was excited to help them improve. As a returning member of the EcoCAR 3 competition, Lee knew that the Georgia Tech team had received 15^th place during the first year of competition. He was confident that his experience would help bridge the gap between the competitions and had high hopes for the team. Lee started the team as an electrical team member, moved on as an ECE GRA (Electrical Computer Engineering Graduate Research Assistant), and finally was appointed as the team’s engineering manager at the beginning of year 3. He was very excited to see the team grow and be able to continue to improve the following yea after they had improved and gotten 9th in Year Two of the competition.

When asked about his favorite part of the competition, Lee responded, “It was great to be able to accomplish as much as we did with the resources that we had.” Lee then went on to say,“EcoCAR has been the most important project that I have ever been a part of. It has given me the work experience that I use every day.”

In the summer of 2017, Lee accepted a full-time position at General Motors as the Associate Development Test Engineer, which is part of the Global Propulsion System. When asked how EcoCAR has prepared him for the real world, Lee replied, “I think EcoCAR is about the most intense work environment and experience that you can have. After EcoCAR you’re prepared for any work experience.”

Lee is extremely ecstatic about the progress of the Georgia Tech team during the EcoCAR 3competition, and is proud to have played a roll in the teams success. The team was able to place 3rd in Lee’s final year as a team member during Year Three of the competition and received several first-place trophies for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistant Systems) event, SMS and controls presentation, and Mechanical presentation. If Lee could give advice to any future AVTC participant,  he would say, “you’re on the right path, try your hardest, and have a great time.”

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Sponsor Spotlight: CSU Team Utilizes MathWorks Software for EcoCAR Vehicle Developments

MathWorks’ sponsorship of the EcoCAR 3 competition has provided the CSU Vehicle Innovation Team with essential software packages and in-depth training for design programs, MATLAB and Simulink. To kick off each competition year, MathWorks hosted the 16 EcoCAR 3 teams for a week of training at their headquarters in Natick, MA.  CSU’s MathWorks mentor, Scott Furry, also visited the team multiple times each year to provide one-on-one guidance to the students, allowing them to use the software to its full potential.

MATLAB and Simulink has been a crucial part of all stages of the vehicle design process, beginning in Year One with modeling of various powertrain configurations during the architecture selection process. The Year Two and Year Three controls teams created the initial vehicle model and established basic component functionality leading to the development of basic vehicle control strategies.

In Year Four the CSU EcoCAR 3 team placed even more emphasis on utilizing MathWorks tools, with two dedicated sub-teams: the Systems Modeling and Simulation Team (SMS) and In-Vehicle Testing Team (IVT), optimizing the vehicle’s controls strategy to improve performance and reduce energy consumption. The SMS team focused on refining existing controls logic and improving the accuracy of the vehicle’s Simulink model, which allowed them to alter various operating conditions and quickly test controls changes. The SMS team is also worked on developing an electric only mode and determining the ideal torque split strategy between the Camaro’s combustion engine and electric motor, leading to higher fuel economy, a challenge that would be nearly impossible without MathWorks tools.

The In-Vehicle Testing Team worked alongside the SMS team in testing controls changes once they are implemented on the vehicle and collecting data to further improve the Simulink model and overall vehicle performance. They created automated data collection and post-processing MATLAB scripts that quickly construct plots of any relevant vehicle information to verify simulation results and validate vehicle technical specifications. They also installed data collection equipment in the vehicle to create an energy tracking tool in Matlab, capable of determining where every joule of electrical energy is being consumed. This allowed the the SMS team to better characterize low voltage energy consumption in the Simulink model, and use that information to make controls changes that optimize energy consumption, increasing fuel economy and electric-only range while reducing tailpipe emissions.

The industry standard Model-Based design tools MATLAB and Simulink have extend far beyond the automotive industry, including in aerospace, energy production, energy distribution, communications, manufacturing, and national defense. Thus, engineers with experience using these tools are highly sought after in a number of fields.
Colorado State VIT graduates have received valuable experience from the support of MathWorks and staff that they would not have received in the traditional undergraduate curriculum. MathWorks’ sponsorship of EcoCAR 3 will undoubtedly have an impact on the future of the automotive industry, but the support and training is more importantly developing the next generation of engineers ready to enter the workforce and tackle tomorrow’s challenges in a number of other industries.

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Country Roads Bring You Home!

West Virginia University has taken part in Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTC’s) since 1988, with the exception of EcoCAR 2, which makes for a lot of Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources AVTC alumni! One particular alumnus, Dr. Derek Johnson, contributed to WVU’s team during the AVTC Challenge X series. The Challenge X competition vehicle focused on deploying a state of the art diesel engine with a full after-treatment system in a Chevrolet Equinox that was capable of running biodiesel. The hybridization came with rear wheel hub motors and an energy storage system that used ultra-capacitors as opposed to battery storage. Derek started as a senior on the engine sub-team and later finished Challenge X as a graduate student and engine team lead.

Derek said his most memorable part of Challenge X was not only being able to work on this project with existing friends, but also making new lifelong friendships. His favorite AVTC travel experience was going to General Motors’ Milford Proving Ground in Milford, MI. When asked what his most significant challenges were in the competition, he replied: “The competition I served on was right at the beginning of when the project started to move from solely mechanical and electrical to a highly complex control oriented program….  This challenge introduced me to the control strategies and engine communications protocols, which I have worked with since.”

When Derek entered graduate school at WVU, Dr. Nigel Clark was the faculty adviser of the Challenge X team and one of the founders of the WVU Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions (CAFEE). Derek took a keen interest in this particular field, and he worked under Dr. Clark for both his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees. The work helped Derek become a proficient technical writer and curriculum developer for the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium (NAFTC) in 2012. Afterward, he studied and worked on integrating alternative fuels into drilling rigs at CONSOL Energy’s R&D office in 2013, before returning to WVU to serve as a research assistant professor alongside his former advisors and faculty members, including current Faculty Lead, Dr. Andrew Nix. Derek and Drew have worked on several large DOE programs focused on diesel engine in-use emissions.

Derek believes his experience with the AVTC Challenge X and working alongside Dr. Clark guided him to this professional path. He also credits the AVTC program, experience, his colleagues and advisors for where he is today, an Associate Professor at West Virginia University, where “country roads” have brought him home.

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