CAR Hosts 11 Students for Summer Internships
If you stopped by CAR this summer, you likely saw some new faces – 11 college interns spent their summer here, gaining experience in automotive engineering.
Tyler Hoffman who is studying aerospace and astronautical engineering spent his summer working on the NASA ULI, a project that works with multiple universities around the country to research the feasibility of electric aircraft.
Hoffman’s role was to develop a thermal model, using heat transfer and electrical engineering theory to approximate the temperature of a variety of battery cells. This involves working with theory, data calibration and validation, hands on testing of battery cells and communicating findings through detailed presentations.
“I learned so much in the short time I've been here,” said Hoffman. “As an aerospace engineering major, batteries aren't something I work with in the classroom often, so getting to learn about them in the context of aerospace vehicles on the NASA ULI team keeps me learning and motivated. It's a great team of people, and a unique opportunity to learn under a large variety of science and engineering disciplines. I enjoyed that this position let me perform hands on testing as well as work with data and programming models.”
Mathematics major, Anne Terez, spent her summer working on a project for Aclara, a utilities company based in St. Louis. CAR is verifying a battery lifetime estimate for one of their products. Terez’s role focused on data analysis and creating a simulation of the battery's lifetime. She was also involved with the NASA ULI project, running tests on lithium silicon batteries.
“This experience is the perfect example of life beyond college,” said Terez. “It's very different to work from assignment to assignment or exam to exam as opposed to focusing on a couple longer-term projects.”
Daniel Seals, a mechanical engineering major developed equivalent circuit models that characterize the behavior of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicle and aerospace applications.
“My internship at CAR has accelerated my career by constantly driving me to become a better programmer and problem-solver, steering me towards a successful career in the automotive industry,” said Seals.
Electrical and computer engineering student, Sai Krishna Ramavajula, worked in the Cybersecurity@CAR Lab. His project focused on developing an automotive cybersecurity test bed, modeling the lateral dynamics of a vehicle and implementing the model in a simulation software called CARLA.
“We intend to develop a simulation environment by the end of this summer, on which we would carry out cybersecurity tests later,” said Krishna Ramavajula. He says that the most interesting thing he learned is how the networks in an automotive vehicle function and he has enjoyed working as a team with the graduate students who work in the lab, Matt Appell and Pradeep Oruganti.
Phie Rodriguez, an incoming neuroscience/computer science and engineering major has spent her summer interning win the Driving Dynamics Lab. Rodriguez created virtual scenes and objects used in the simulator using the game development software, Unity and the 3D modelling/animation software, Blender.
“This is my second summer interning in the Lab, and I have learned a lot about coding, specifically Python and C#, as well as how to use Unity and Blender, two programs I had no prior experience with,” said Rodriguez. “I've also received a lot of advice that's helped with the transition from high school to college, and I have gained experience working in a group.”
Electrical engineering student, Jake Isaman worked with the Ohio State EcoCAR team on the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge. Isaman focused on the Controller Area Network (CAN) which utilizes differential signaling that allows communication between different devices that are integrated into the car, such as sensors.
“I love coming in everyday knowing I will gain new knowledge that will be incredibly useful in industry,” said Isaman. “I have learned an assortment of new thing in addition to CAN such as MATLAB, basic wiring, CANoe, and how to create a Database file.”
Noah Hollyfield, an engineering physics student split his time between two projects; a simulator for the Venturi Buckeye Bullet and the Voxan motorcycle, an electric landspeed motorcycle that CAR is working on with Venturi.
“Working on the Buckeye Bullet has been very enjoyable; it is a challenging but rewarding process working with the simulation,” said Hollyfield. “With the Voxan project I've had to learn so much about batteries and battery pack design! Before this summer I had no idea how much went on behind the scenes of these objects.”
Hollyfield also enjoyed working with other interns on these projects and gaining experience working on a professional team.
“This experience has taught me so much about engineering that I hadn't learned in my classes, said Hollyfield. “I'm really happy that I received the opportunity to do this.”
Mechanical engineering student, Yatin Khanna also spent his time focusing on the Venturi Buckeye Bullet and the Voxan motorcycle, with a focus on vehicle dynamics.
“I spent a lot of time reading, understanding and modeling the vehicle's behavior under different circumstances,” said Khanna. "I have learned a lot about racing electric vehicles in the last couple of months while fulfilling my dream of developing fast vehicles."
Joey Carlson, an engineering physics major worked on two projects related to the use of second life batteries.
“My experience at CAR was an absolute information overload, but I loved every minute of it,” said Carlson. In the span of about a month and a half I went from knowing only basic circuit analysis from one electrical engineering course to having a great grasp on data transmission, software design for lab experimentation and overall knowledge of how electric vehicles and rechargeable batteries work. I love to learn new things and work on projects, so my experience at CAR was a ton of fun and extremely valuable!”
Aditi Gaikwad and Priyanka Chougule, both students at the Cummins College of Engineering in India spent their time at CAR working on a trailer design for the Venturi Buckeye Bullet, which will be used to transport the vehicle for testing.
“We have been exposed to so much technology related to electric vehicles while we have been here,” said Gaikwad. “I am an automobile enthusiast and this has been an amazing opportunity for me to work with such an extremely knowledgeable group of people.”
Gaikwad and Chougule first learned of CAR when they were invited to visit with their Baja team, TEAM ZENITH, during their time in the United States for the Baja SAE Tennessee Tech competition in April. Gaikwad and Chougule were then invited to return for a summer internship.
“When you travel away from home, there are always adjustments, but everyone at CAR has made me feel very comfortable and like they appreciate my work,” said Chougule. “I have been able to take what I learn in the classroom and apply it practically, which has been a great experience!”
