February 2019
CAAT TRACKS
|
|
Register Now for the 2019 CAAT Conference!
|
|
Join us to hear from industry and state leaders about the:
- Automotive industry’s continued focus on and growth of electric vehicles (EVs).
- Current status of market acceptance of EVs.
- EV charging network, fast charging, charge rate and range anxiety.
- MiSTEM Network, the Michigan STEM Advisory Council and the state’s STEM programming that is helping to make the state a world leader in STEM education.
- Many STEM activities in Michigan that focus on developing skills that will help students gain proficiency in collaboration, questioning, problem-solving, and critical thinking that will better prepare them for the many STEM jobs that are currently and will continue to be available to meet the needs of industry.
- Michigan Workforce Development Agency’s efforts to work directly with federal, state, and local partners to implement workforce and education programs and develop policies that align with, and support, the state’s key workforce strategies.
|
|
Keynote Speaker
Jeff Lowinger, President
Mr. Lowinger is responsible for leveraging expertise from Eaton’s Electrical and Vehicle Groups for the development of electrified components and power management technology for on- and off-road vehicles.
He previously served as Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Eaton's industrial sector.
|
|
Featured Speaker
Megan Schrauben, Executive Director
As the MiSTEM Network Executive Director for the State of Michigan, Ms. Schrauben facilitates the activities of the Governor’s MiSTEM Advisory Council and grants funding dollars for state STEM programming. MiSTEM is housed at the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget (DTMB) and coordinates efforts with the MI Department of Education (MDE).
|
|
Featured Speaker
Stephanie Beckhorn, Director
With 20 years experience in workforce and economic development, Ms. Beckhorn works directly with federal, state, and local partners to implement key workforce and education programs, and develops policies that align with, and support, the state’s key workforce development strategies. She actively engages internal and external stakeholders to ensure policy and service delivery effectively address customer needs.
The conference is sponsored by:
|
|
Register for the Free Michigan Automotive Teachers Association (MATA) Conference
|
|
The 2nd annual
Michigan Automotive Teachers Association (MATA) Conference
will be held March 14, 2019, at Lansing Community College from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm. This conference is an expansion of the long running and very successful Southeast Michigan Automotive Teacher's Association (SEMATA) Conference that has been held for many years in the metro Detroit area.
The focus of this conference is to bring automotive instructors from around the state together to engage in
NATEF
accepted technical training and networking opportunities, as well as provide exposure to vendors of tools/equipment, text books and learning management systems. The MATA Conference will offer technical training classes, a trade show, raffles and live demos, and provide certificates for NATEF training hours. The conference also offers a complimentary continental breakfast and lunch.
Nelson Kelly, CAAT Assistant Director, will present a session on Emerging Automotive Technologies and Technicians. Join him to learn about the many new automotive technologies and the classroom-ready courses and resources developed by the CAAT to train future technicians to work on vehicles that feature these new technologies.
Please pass this information along to any colleagues who may benefit from attending this conference.
|
|
Macomb Community College Hosts Girl Scouts Engineering Day
|
The CAAT hosted the
Girls Scouts of Southeastern Michigan
(GSSEM) Engineering Day event on Saturday, February 23, 2019. The event was offered as part of the
National Engineers Week
celebration to inspire girls to explore career opportunities in the vast fields of engineering and technology. Approximately 90 people, including nearly 65 junior, cadet and senior girl scouts, participated in the event which was held at Macomb Community College’s South Campus in Warren, Michigan. Parents, troop leaders and a multitude of volunteers supported the event.
During the morning session, the girl scouts participated in engineering-focused, hands-on activities. Saleta McMurray, CAAT’s STEM Outreach Coordinator, offered a lab for nearly 30 junior girl scouts who worked in small groups to build a balloon-powered car. The
STEM Genius
organization offered a hands-on session for approximately 35 cadette and senior scouts who worked in small groups to build a roller coaster. Concurrently, parents and troop leaders attended a session just for them, at which STEM Genius and The
Robot Garage
provided ideas on how to engage students in fun, STEM-based learning activities.
During lunch, the scouts were able to participate in more STEM-based activities. These included virtual reality
Oculus
goggles and the CAAT’s mini marshmallow launchers.
The afternoon session featured the movie
Dream BIG: Engineering our World
. “From the Great Wall of China and the world’s tallest buildings, to underwater robots, solar cars and smart sustainable cities, Dream Big celebrates the human ingenuity behind engineering marvels big and small, and reveals the heart that drives engineers to create better lives for people around the world.” The scouts enjoyed popcorn while watching the movie and afterwards had an opportunity to ask questions of these panelists:
- Dr. Missie Smith, PhD., Oakland University
- Palencia Mobley, Deputy Director, Detroit Water and Sewage Department
- Sara Merchawi, Lead Engineer DASSAULT Systems
- Nicole Cicala, Director AAM
- Stacy Lueneburg, Continental Automotive Systems
After the movie, students from the
Oakland University Makers Club
offered hands –on robotics demonstrations where the scouts got to test drive various remote-control robotic vehicles.
At the end of the event, the scouts completed a survey. Results indicated that the scouts really enjoyed the event! The survey results indicated that the scouts:
- learned about engineering jobs and careers they didn’t know about previously
- were more interested in engineering than they were before
- learned about the different characteristics needed to be an engineer
- liked building, designing or putting things together
- would consider a career in engineering
|
|
This educational event was supported by:
|
|
Many of these supporters also contributed door prizes and small gifts for the scouts.
|
|
The survey results from December’s
Auto STEAM Days event have been processed and indicate the event was very successful among both teachers and students!
TEACHER SURVEY (22 Responses)
- 72% of the teachers who responded to the survey indicated that they found the Auto STEAM Days event is a Very Effective (36.4%) or Effective (36.4%) learning tool. An additional 22.7% of respondents found the event a Moderately Effective learning tool
- Teachers were asked to estimate the level of interest in the STEAM fields among their students before and after the event. Before the event, teachers estimated that 22.7% of their students had a high interest in the STEAM fields, but this number increased to 63.6% after the event.
STUDENT SURVEY (550 Responses)
- 51% of students indicated they liked the event a lot and another 38.4% indicated they liked it a little.
- 31.8% of students indicated they learned a lot at the event, 50.9% of students indicated they learned some, and another 14.7% indicated they learned a little at the event.
- Students were asked to note their level of interest in the STEAM fields (on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 Is low interest and 7 is high interest) both before and after the event. The results indicate that student interest in STEAM fields shifted dramatically from lower interest to higher interest after the event. In fact, the number of students who indicated the highest level of interest (7) before the event more than doubled after the event, increasing from 64 to 130. Similarly, the number of students who indicated a level of interest of 6 before the event (76) increased to 140 after the event!
- After the event, students were asked what type of career they would like to pursue where 10 popular careers were listed along with undecided and other. 148 (31.8%) of the 465 students who responded to this question indicated they would like to pursue an Engineering/Automotive Technology Career. This was the career with the most responses. The next highest was 83 students who indicated they would pursue a career in medical/bio-medical/health sciences, followed by 60 students who indicated they would pursue a career in graphic design/computer/information technology.
- Student verbatims included, “Everyone had a lot of fun learning new things,” “Do it again, loved it,” “Awesome job, thank you,” “I loved almost all of the presentations, they were all interesting fields,” and “it was a very cool place to be.”!
|
|
Autonomous Driving on Rural Roads
|
|
Currently, autonomous cars are mostly driven in urban settings due to their requirements for dense 3D map data, landmarks, and connected infrastructure. In rural areas visual cues are more limited, there are fewer landmarks, lane markings tend to be less clear, and there is less infrastructure to feed information to the vehicles. Different solutions are being developed to close this gap:
The Michigan Department of Transportation has initiated a pilot program of attaching “machine vision devices” to government vehicles (snow plows, police cars, etc.) to
passively map roadways across the state
. MDOT is partnering with Continental Automotive Systems to develop a hyper-accurate, high-definition map database for autonomous vehicles.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) is working to develop the technology to allow autonomous vehicles to drive on unmapped roads they’ve never seen before. This technology combines simple GPS data, LIDAR, and programmatic assumptions to guide the car along the road less traveled.
Perhaps, through a combination of these techniques and others, autonomous vehicles will someday be able to navigate the country as well as the city.
|
|
|
|
A report that provides insight into companies that are members of EV100 and their progress in influencing the conversion to electric vehicles for transportation and fleet use.
|
|
|
|
A report on the expected number of electric vehicle sales between the years 2018 and 2030 and an estimation of the associated charging infrastructure needs.
|
|
|
|
This project facilitates communication between utilities, PEV charging stations, and residential PEV customers, including the development of cloud-to-cloud Open Automated Demand Response 2.0b communication so the consumer can receive daily rate schedules from the utility provider.
|
|
|
|
Curriculum Resource
An activity to design and construct simple vehicles. Explains how electric current is formed within a battery, describes the energy conversions in the model's operation, calculates the energy produced over distance. Challenges students to observe, calculate and compare the velocity and power of vehicles.
|
|
|
|
Curriculum Resource
Lesson plan to investigate solutions for reducing fuel consumption, calculate costs of transportation for multiple modes of transit, and calculate the carbon footprint and compare different modes of travel.
|
|
UX Design for Automated Vehicles
|
|
As we move into the new world of ADAS and automated vehicles, human-machine interaction will be crucial for successful implementation. This publication, “
Human Factors Design Guidance for Level 2 and Level 3 Automated Driving Concepts
,” by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), looks at the levels of automation, driver expectations, automation failures, and driver awareness.
The driver-vehicle interface (DVI) refers to the vehicle displays presenting information to the driver, driver controls, and the status of the vehicle components and subsystems. The safe operation of a vehicle depends on the DVI seamlessly working with driver limitations, capabilities, and expectations. This document is intended to assist DVI developers provide an intuitive and effective human-machine interface.
Check out this resource, or any of the other great resources in our
Resource Library
.
|
|
Advanced Automotive Security Webinars
|
|
The automotive industry is looking to save lives, reduce injuries and spread mobility equitably. A major component of this is ensuring the safety of the systems. Check out these two recent webinars to learn more.
dSpace addressed the major challenges of systems engineering and design streamlining, cost reduction, sensor improvements, implementation of more artificial intelligence, and education of the end consumer.
Cyber security strategies for securing connected vehicles have traditionally focused on the security of vehicle internals. However, an innovative new approach – Cloud-based security – offers agent-less, backwards compatible and instantly deployable protection.
|
|
Detroit is the first major city to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help fix the roads.
Read more.
Electric vehicles are great winter cars because the heat pump system works like traditional air conditioning in reverse, which is incredibly fast in warming up the car.
Read more.
Environmentally conscious Lyft riders will soon be able to summon a hybrid or electric vehicle as a preference to a conventional combustion engine.
Read more.
With the Vehicle Locate feature on the myChevy mobile app, Chevrolet owners can check their smartphone to see where their car is.
Read more.
|
|
Did you know…
You could win $10,000 for your best idea to improve people’s lives through innovative mobility? That’s right, enter the
Connected Vehicle Challenge
by March 10
and you may have the opportunity to bring your idea to life. Build an innovative connected vehicle device or system to demonstrate how vehicle connectivity can enhance communities, quality of life, and the environment.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
