UC student aims to improve electric vehicles

The University of Cincinnati is home to one of the research labs that I wanted to join after finishing my undergraduate studies. The research that was being conducted at the Integrated Vehicle Design Laboratory was well aligned with my research interests and that was the main motivation for me to apply to the graduate school here at UC.

Our research addresses this issue by proposing a set of design optimization algorithms that can help engineers find the optimal design for such systems. By utilizing effective mathematical optimization schemes, our algorithms would allow engineers to optimize their systems for any desired objectives without iterating over all the possible designs.

We hope to attract the electric vehicle industry to use our formulations when designing new vehicles. Our proposed algorithms’ impact in this industry can potentially be significant. For instance, our formulations can help electric vehicle design engineers overcome the challenges that they usually face, such as cost effectiveness and efficiency. The end goal of our research would be to pave the way towards a fully electrified cost-effective clean transportation system that many countries aim at building.

Every researcher will feel accomplished if they see their work presented, published and, most importantly, recognized. Due to the importance and impact of our ongoing research, my colleagues and I have been honored to present our research in several well-known conferences in the U.S. and abroad. Though we have not limited ourselves to conference presentations, we have also been actively publishing our works in several famous journals such as the Journal of Mechanical Design. After publishing the work, seeing it recognized by other renowned researchers in our field is what makes me proud every day.

In my third year of graduate school, I was given the opportunity to teach the Applied Computational Methods Lab as an instructor in the spring and summer of 2019. After realizing the importance and impact of student involvement, I took the initiative to implement an anonymous electronic feedback system in the class, via which my students could submit their feedback for each session by scanning a QR code with their phones. This was implemented in the summer semester and resulted in significant improvements in the students’ performance and satisfaction compared to the previous semester. I was able to adjust the class and the teaching materials according to my students’ needs. Due to its effectiveness and impact on student learning, this strategy was later adopted by another instructor who taught the same class after I did.  

When you work in your favorite area — design and optimization of vehicles, in my case — you really do not need any external motivations to work. The job itself is the motivation! As they say, “find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Featured image at top: Electric vehicle being charged. Photo/Ernest Ojeh/Unsplash.