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WSU grad students work to create a sustainable vehicle.
KATIE O'NEAL I SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
W
ayne State University's EcoCAR 2 team,
made up of 40 students, is re-engineering
a Chevy Malibu into a vehicle that
achieves 40 miles of all-electric range.
The team members joined students from across the country
who were challenged to reduce greenhouse gases through
a General Motors and U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored
competition, EcoCAR 2: Plugging into the Future. WSU is one
of 15 universities competing in the three-year engineering
competition.
Project manager for WSU's
EcoCAR 2 team is Israeli Idan Kovent.
Communications team specialist is Alyse
Waldhorn, a member of Congregation
Beth Shalom in Oak Park.
The competition is designed to
replicate GM's three-year design process.
It challenges engineering students to
Alyse
simulate a hybrid vehicle design and then
Waldhorn
implement it into the team's GM-donated
2014 Chevrolet Malibu. Additionally,
business and communications students
on the team secure sponsorship and plan
outreach events.
Kovent, 33, of Huntington Woods has
been applying classroom knowledge
to real-world problems since the team
started in 2011. He oversees all sub
L..
teams: electrical, mechanical, controls,
Idan Kovent
business and communications. Aside from
being a full-time graduate student studying alternative fuel
technologies and running the team, Kovent is a full-time
engineer at ALTe Powertrain Technologies in Auburn Hills.
He earned his bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering
from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and
moved to the United States in 2009.
Living in the United States, he says, has created a barrier
that all international students encounter — distance. Kovent
says that something as simple as speaking Hebrew at work
reminds him of home. "One of our main investors from New
York is actually Jewish, and I get to speak Hebrew when he
comes in," he says.
"Trying to solve a real-world problem through the re-
engineering of a car over the course of three years is no
easy task," Kovent adds. "The team spends long days and
sleepless nights working on reports and implementing new
components to improve our Malibu.
"We all need to learn fast, on demand and solve real-
world problems that are usually tackled by experienced
engineers with much larger resources," Kovent says.
Kovent chose to call the Detroit area home not only
because his wife, Miram Levine, was studying internal
medicine at Wayne State University, but also because he
wanted to take part in the future comeback of the city, the
automotive industry in particular.
At the end of the competition, the EcoCAR team plans
to have a fully functioning parallel plug-in hybrid electric
vehicle that runs on E85 and gets 40 miles all-electric range,
Kovent says.
So far, the team has replaced the stock engine and rebuilt
the fuel tank to adhere to their vehicle design. The team is
also working to reduce the weight of the vehicle by exploring
alternative low-weight seating options.
Idan Kovent in the team's redesigned Chevy
Malibu
Benefits Of The Competition
Aside from all the tangible rewards that could potentially
come from EcoCAR 2, like receiving a job with one of the Big
Three after the competition, there are others that to some
mean much more.
"Making friends, learning to become a better engineer
and teaching others are such a great reward to me," Kovent
says. "Every year I get former team members emailing me
and thanking me for giving them the tools to be successful
in their career."
The team's communications specialist, Waldhorn, 23,
graduated from Michigan State University in 2012 with a
bachelor's degree in environmental biology. After receiving
her first degree, she says she realized she wanted to support
and develop sustainable efforts, which led her to tackle
another degree, this time in mechanical engineering.
"As soon as classes began, I started looking for an
organization to join, and I found EcoCAR," Waldhorn says.
"I joined EcoCAR because it offers students real-world
engineering experience where you can learn about anything
from design and implementation to testing."
As a female in engineering, she has put herself in a male-
dominated industry and is doing well. "I feel that regardless
of gender, if you truly love what you are doing then you will
be successful," she says.
Waldhorn has been helping the communications team out
with youth events, general outreach, and team photography
and videography. Considering she is new to the mechanical
engineering program on campus, Waldhorn says she plans to
transition into the engineering aspects of the team when she
is ready.
EcoCAR 2 opens doors for students to network with
professionals and work with software programs and tools
that the industry uses daily. She has been working closely
with the engineering team to grasp the computer-aided
design program Siemens NX 7.5, which is being used by all
competing teams.
The EcoCAR team will be at GM's Proving Grounds in
Milford next June to test the car in dynamic events.
"EcoCAR 2 is the best boot camp for any engineer,"
Kovent says. "It challenges students to be successful in a
multi-disciplinary competition."
❑
Waal,
Music by Jeanine Tesori
Book and Lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire
Based on the DreamWorks Animation Motion Picture
and the book by William Steig
January 10-26
Baldwin Theatre
Tickets: $20 - $24 ea
ENJOY
Opening Night Celebration!
7 pm Pre-glow with complimentary
BEER & FOOD samples
compliments of
our show sponsor `,T "4?”
. ,
Character Meet & Greet
after Saturday matinees
Stage
415 S Lafayette Ave Royal Oak 48067
All seats reserved Visa / MC accepted
Katie O'Neal is a student at Wayne State and EcoCAR 2
communications manager.
Tickets at
248-541-6430 or online at
0001084
590
January 2 • 2014 27