EcoCAR offers students excitement, free pizza
August 20, 2010
STARKVILLE, Miss. –Mississippi State’s national champion automotive design team will hold an open recruiting event for all students Tuesday, Aug. 24.
The team, which earned first place in the second year of “EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge” is preparing for the third and final year of the competition. Anyone interested in automotive design, environmentally friendly research or simply looking for a new challenge is encouraged to attend the event.
“There’s room for everybody on the EcoCAR team,” said Lee Pratt, team outreach coordinator. “We need all types of engineers and other majors too. As long as they are willing to work there are plenty of areas where students can help.”
The event will start at 5 p.m. in the lobby of Simrall Hall with food provided by Pi Squared Pizza, a new local pizzeria. Everyone will then move into the building’s auditorium for a brief presentation and question and answer session.
The team has numerous subgroups in which students can participate including: power train, controls, electrical, emissions, mechanical, and outreach, which helps the team spread its message to the media and area schools.
Pratt, a graduate student in marketing, explained that the team provides a unique education experience for students by exposing them to new ways of thinking and exciting challenges.
“You gain so much experience by being on this team,” she explained. “I’ve learned things I never could have imagined and it’s great. The competition is so exciting and I have really enjoyed it. It’s completely different from anything most students ever experience.”
Sponsored by General Motors and the Department of Energy, the EcoCAR competition asked 16-competitively selected teams to re-engineer an SUV to increase its fuel efficiency and reduce emissions while maintaining performance and consumer appeal.
Mississippi State designed an extended-range plug-in electric vehicle, which earned 118 miles-per-gallon and a 60-mile all electric range in performance tests. In the second year of competition, MSU bested its closest competitor by 153 points. For the third year of competition, the team will focus on refining the vehicle’s systems in order to make a production-ready prototype.