TERRE HAUTE —
The future of Earth’s auto industry is intertwined with the career prospects of local university students, and a world-class team shined with green energy Sunday.
Members of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s EcoCAR2 Team hosted a presentation of the documentary “Revenge of the Electric Car” inside Hatfield Hall’s theater at 3 p.m., coordinated with Indiana State University public relations students and their own work in alternative fuel mechanics.
The sun shone bright in frigid air outside Hatfield Hall as Rose-Hulman student Kyle Mason stood next to the team’s 2011 biodiesel vehicle, laden with sponsorship decals. The junior mechanical engineering major from Rockport serves as mechanical team leader for the school’s EcoCAR project, and said he’s obtained a summer internship with Allison Transmission as a result of his three years on the team.
“I started my freshman year,” he said.
Part of the school’s advanced transportation program, the EcoCAR project is a three-year educational partnership with General Motors and the U.S. Department of Energy. The first phase involved transforming a stock GM product into an alternative fuel vehicle, which resulted in the 2011 biodiesel displayed outside Hatfield Hall Sunday. Now in its third year, the group will receive a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu as the integration platform for another advanced design. Like the first vehicle, it will be tested as part of a competition with stops across the country.
The school is one of 16 North American colleges and universities participating in the project.
Team leader Jon Nibert said about 20 students work on the project, and the group has partnered with ISU business and public relations students as part of an outreach project.
“This will be my third year,” the Class of 2012 computer engineering major said, noting he’s already started work on his master’s in engineering management at Rose-Hulman.
Nibert said shifting to another vehicle type will be a challenge, but one the team will enjoy.
“The biggest difference is the different platform,” he said of the new 2013 Chevrolet Malibu, which will come to the students right off production lines.
And learning to work in the field of green technology might mean green in the bank at some point, as both Nibert and Mason said they want jobs in the automotive industry.
“I really want to go into the automotive industry, and GM is high on my list,” Nibert said. “I want to do what I’m doing now professionally.”
Mason said the project introduces students to the same kind of processes and systems used by GM. The entire methodology is quite similar, he said, meaning the experience is extremely practical. As a high school student investigating engineering schools, he said the EcoCAR project was unknown to him. But the opportunities afforded by Rose-Hulman were well known by that point.
“I wanted to come here and when I got here I saw this and decided to get into it,” he said. “I just knew I wanted to come here.”
Meanwhile, Kaci Lientz and a team of ISU students worked information tables and answered questions for visitors. A 2011 graduate of the university’s public relations program, she’s now working on a graduate degree in communications.
“The outreach team is here to inform the community and raise awareness about EcoCAR2 for the community and students,” she said. In addition to Sunday’s event, the group will host open houses and high school tours, showcasing the vehicles as well as promoting the schools to potential students.
New as the EcoCAR program is at Rose-Hulman, 95 percent of the students volunteering on the project wind up with jobs in the automotive industry, something that’s very appealing to the ISU students seeking careers in marketing and public relations.
“All of us are kind of new to this industry,” she said, adding none of the students would mind terribly a recruitment offer from corporations such as GM.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@ tribstar.com.
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