Contact: Phil Hearn
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A panel of business, government and university experts will examine possible transportation solutions to the nation's critical energy problems Thursday [April 21] during a Challenge X discussion forum at Mississippi State.
The 3-5 p.m. public meeting in the Parker Ballroom of the university's Hunter Henry Center is sponsored by a team of MSU engineering students. The group is seeking to design an alternatively powered vehicle as part of a national, three-year Challenge X project.
Justin Crapps, a senior mechanical engineering major from Florence, Ala., noted that with spiraling gasoline prices and the continuing depletion of fossil fuels, Americans are looking for innovative ways to solve related economic and environmental problems.
"What we're trying to do with this forum is to raise community awareness about the critical energy crisis and hybrid electric vehicles as part of a possible solution," said Crapps, the Challenge X group's general business manager.
"We also want to let the community know about the work Mississippi State students are doing in Starkville to contribute to this solution," added Crapps, who will serve as panel moderator.
MSU President Charles Lee and Colin Scanes, vice president for research and graduate studies, also will speak during the event, which was scheduled to mark the national Earth Day observance on the 22nd.
The eight forum panelists include:
--Bill Beggs, a design engineer for General Motors Corp. in Milford, Mich.;
--Dwight Wylie, chief environmental engineer for the Mississippi Office of Pollution Control's Air Division;
--Tom Vaught, senior program manager for DRS Test and Energy Management Inc. in Huntsville, Ala., which develops hybrid energy management systems;
--Barrie McArthur, vice chairman of the Ridgeland-based DTI Technology Inc., a leading designer and manufacturer of industrial computing for more than 33 years;
--Kirk Schulz, dean of MSU's Bagley College of Engineering;
--Marshall Molen, Ergon/Diversified Technology Inc. Distinguished Professor in MSU's department of electrical and computer engineering, a Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems researcher and key faculty adviser for the Challenge X project;
--Mark Zappi, Texas Olefins Professor of Chemical Engineering, director of the Environmental Technology Research and Applications Laboratory in MSU's Swalm School of Chemical Engineering and a biofuels research specialist; and
--John Rezek, assistant professor of finance and economics in MSU's College of Business and Industry.
Mississippi State is among 17 universities named last year to participate in "Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility" by the sponsoring U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors Corp. Sponsors said the groundbreaking student engineering competition could significantly impact the future design of automobiles and other vehicles.
The university teams are re-engineering a 2005 Chevrolet Equinox with three basic goals: reduce energy consumption, decrease emissions, and maintain the performance and utility features of the compact SUV. Students have spent the first year of the project modeling, simulating and testing the vehicle powertrain and subsystems. In years two and three, they will integrate their advanced work into the Equinox.
"This represents an opportunity for engineering students, both undergraduate and graduate, to participate in the development of a hybrid-electric vehicle," said Molen, one of the panelists and a power electronics research specialist at CAVS.
"We soon will see a radically different vehicle that will have superior performance and efficiency while being friendlier to our environment, without compromising vehicle size or comfort," he predicted.
He said students must follow a design procedure similar to that employed by GM engineers, and will be evaluated from that perspective.
For more information, contact Crapps at (662) 312-3251 or jmc19@msstate.edu or jcrapps@cavs.msstate.edu. Molen may be reached at 325-3912 or molen@ece.msstate.edu