CAR Delivers In-Person, Customized Courses to Consortia Members

The Center for Automotive Research (CAR) Distance Education program creates customized packages and course offerings depending on the needs of each partner. Options range from live short courses tailored around one specific subject area, to online credit courses and non-credit seminars, including 1-year certificate programs that focus on specialized areas of study such as advanced propulsion, powertrain modeling and control and noise vibration and harshness. 

These programs draw extensively from CAR’s research and innovation and are targeted to professionals in the transportation industry.

In December 2019 and January 2020, two customized, live short courses were delivered to 45 staff members at Dana Corporation, an American supplier of axles, driveshafts, transmissions and electrodynamic, thermal, sealing and digital equipment for conventional, hybrid and electric-powered vehicles. These courses focused on vehicle electrification and energy storage and were taught by Associate Professor Marcello Canova, Assistant Professor Jung-Hyun Kim and CAR Director Giorgio Rizzoni.

“This course explored many relevant topics from hybrid vehicle architectures to quantifying benefits from the system in a way that was both rigorous and approachable. Dr. Rizzoni clearly enjoys his work, and he is an excellent communicator, which always makes for a great class,” said Andrew Brammer, a lead engineer at Dana.

Rizzoni and Canova also provided a virtual course on electrification to 40 Honda Performance Development team members, the engineering team responsible for working with the Honda racing teams.

The engineers viewed lectures over a month and every other week, the group provided Rizzoni and Canova with a list of questions and topics for discussion in a live consulting session with Rizzoni, Canova and Research Scientist, Matilde D’Arpino.

“This opportunity allow us to use distance learning to educate ourselves and build our skills,” said David Salter, technical director at Honda Performance Development. “The information was extremely relevant for our electrification needs going forward and gave a solid knowledge foundation, both practical and theoretical.”
 

Additionally, industry engineers routinely benefit from CAR’s preparatory seminars before they enroll in the graduate automotive engineering courses or advanced seminars on specialized topics. These advanced seminars focus on specific and innovative topics with constantly updated material and range from 8 - 20 hours, some including lab sessions. Seminars can be delivered as self-paced online courses, live on-site, or live at CAR.