Rose-Hulman to compete in national EV battery design challenge
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Students from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will represent the school as one of only 12 selected to compete in a national Battery Workforce Challenge.
The challenge is led by the U.S. Department of Energy in partnership with automaker Stellantis in an effort to appeal to the future workforce of the growing electric vehicle industry.
Rose-Hulman was the only Indiana college selected for the competition and will partner with Ivy Tech Community College’s Terre Haute campus on the project.
“The Battery Workforce Challenge provides an opportunity for our students to explore and create new advances in technology that could drive the future of the automotive industry,” Provost Rick Stamper said in a Rose-Hulman news release. “At the same time, they will be taking steps forward toward developing the critical skills needed to lead the workforce in this exciting field within advancing technology.”
The contest is a three-year, immersive learning experience managed by the DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. Rose-Hulman’s Battery Workforce Challenge team will use campus workspace and Computer Assisted Design and other modeling simulations to design, build and test an advanced electric vehicle battery that can be used in a future Stellantis vehicle.
Stellantis is in the midst of construction on the first of two multi-billion-dollar EV battery manufacturing plants in Kokomo.
The project falls in line with the Department of Energy’s goal to achieve net-zero emissions across the economy by 2050.
Rose-Hulman’s team will be led by Marc Herniter, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, and Zac Chambers, a professor of mechanical engineering.
“We have the facilities and equipment needed for success in this challenge, and our students can’t wait to get started on this next adventure,” Chambers said in the Rose-Hulman release. “This is another excellent opportunity for our students to implement what they’re learning in the classroom into a real-world application. ”
Other participating schools include California State University-Los Angeles, Clemson University, Colorado School of Mines, Jackson State University, McMaster University in Canada, Ohio State University, the University of Alabama, the University of California-Merced, the University of Michigan-Dearborn, the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and the University of Waterloo in Canada.