Year 1 Competition

1st Place Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Plan 2022-2023

During Year 1 of the EcoCAR: EV Challenge, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Subteam was tasked with developing a Year 1 DEI plan that lays out the team’s DEI goals and objectives for the four-year EV Challenge competition. This plan set the tone for the team’s DEI priorities over the course of the competition and challenged teams to set goals, develop a timeline and craft an evaluation plan to measure the effectiveness of DEI initiatives.

Spirit of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 2022-2023

This award will go to a DEI Manager who exemplifies diversity, equity and inclusion within their actions and leadership throughout Year 1. 

Mobility Equity Advocate 2022-2023 - Sponsored by ONE

This award recognizes a DEI Manager who has made significant impact in an underserved community within the Equity in Mobility: Community Challenge and has gone above and beyond the Year 1 objectives.

1^st Place Equity in Mobility: Community Challenge Symposium Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy

The Year One Equity in Mobility: Community Challenge Symposium (EiMCC) is an opportunity to highlight each team’s research toward understanding the broader mobility issues among local communities. The research conducted in Year 1 of the EV Challenge will support EcoCAR teams in the future development and deployment of a community-centered solution to increase transportation accessibility for underserved community members.

1st Place Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Presentation

During the Year 1 DEI Presentations, DEI Managers (DEIMs) will be required to present their year one efforts to build a team foundation rooted in DEI. Teams will tell a narrative through a PowerPoint presentation that details their efforts to establish DEI goals, carry out initiatives to accomplish these goals and set their teams up for long-term DEI success.

1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd Place Overall- Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Program Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy

The goal of the DEI Subteam is to ensure that all aspects of the EcoCAR competition implement and fully
embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion. The DEI Subteam challenges EcoCAR teams to make DEI a top priority and establish their own DEI goals throughout the four years of the competition. DEI Managers work closely with faculty and team leadership to develop & maintain a diverse team that fosters an inviting, respectful, and inclusive team environment that allows everyone to contribute and thrive.

1^st Place Communications Plan

The Communications Management (CM) Subteam was tasked with developing a Year 1 Communications Plan that captures how each team intends to raise awareness of EcoCAR, their team’s participation in the program, and electric vehicle (EV) technology. CMs set and maintain communications goals for each individual year, identify communications target audiences, and develop communications messages specific to each audience. CMs also identify communications strategies and tactics to accomplish each goal and incorporate various modes of evaluation and measurement. Overall, this plan works as a guide for teams to implement a successful communications program at their respective universities.

Excellence in STEM Outreach – Sponsored by Magna

Magna is proud to be sponsoring this years’ Excellence in STEM Outreach award which recognizes a team that exemplifies excellence in STEM outreach to local underserved and underprivileged youth.

Spirit of Communications

The Spirit of Communications Award recognizes an individual that has made an outstanding effort in the area of Communications and exemplifies leadership and sportsmanship within their actions.

1st Place Communications Presentation

During the Year One Communications Presentation, CMs will present their efforts on developing and implementing three strategic social media campaigns: Collaboration with a Student or University Club, highlighting Engineering Week, and a campaign of the team’s choice. A social media campaign is a coordinated marketing effort to reinforce or assist an organization’s goal using one or more social media platforms. Teams will highlight their individual campaign goals, strategy, execution / campaign details, and evaluation and measurement.

1^st – 3^rd Place Communications Program

The Communications Program enhances the visibility of Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions, the EcoCAR EV Challenge, individual EcoCAR teams, and Electric Vehicle (EV) technology. The Communications Managers (CMs) are an integral part of the program and manage various communications activities such as outreach campaigns, social media, planning and hosting events, STEM education, and community outreach. CMs take on the role as the team’s ambassador in their local community through these activities.

1st Place Project Initiation Plan

The Project Initiation Plan is a collaborative deliverable between the Program Managers, Communications Managers and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Managers and serves as the foundation for each university’s EcoCAR EV Challenge team by establishing the team’s mission statement, criteria for success, and a plan for developing a diverse and successful roster.

1st Place Mid-Year Project Status Presentation

The Mid-Year Project Status Update Presentation is for Project Managers to convey their current project status to stakeholders and identify what adjustments must be made to the remainder of their plan to accomplish Year 1 goals through a live presentation given to a panel of judges at Winter Workshop in Austin, Texas.

1st Place Final Project Status Presentation

The Project Status Presentation is intended for Project Managers to convey the overall status of their project to competition stakeholders using formal project management techniques. The evaluation of these presentations focused on the ability of the Project Manager to communicate the status of his or her overall project, as well as where they could improve their programs

1^st – 3^rd Place Project Management Program

The EcoCAR Project Management Program challenges student Project Managers to utilize industry management techniques to guide their project from conception to conclusion.

1st Place CAV Compute Design Report - Sponsored by dSPACE

The CAV Compute Design Report required teams to take the feedback from the CAV Compute Design TDR and complete a more thorough evaluation of the centralized and decentralized architecture options. Within this report, teams conducted an in-depth comparison of their compute designs such as external and in-cabin sensors, controllers used, communication networks, and system energy analysis, of which they finalized their choice. Teams now have an actionable plan in place to start acquiring and integrating the CAV hardware into their Cadillac LYRIQ in year 2 of EVC.

1st Place CAV Compute Design Technical Design Review - Sponsored by NXP

The CAV Compute Design TDR required teams to figure out the deployment strategy of their CAV software and how to do that in the most energy-efficient way possible. Teams focused on design choices such as using accelerators for AI/ML inference, driver monitoring system implementation, communication networks, and more. They discussed two different compute architectures, a centralized architecture and a decentralized architecture, amongst a panel of subject manner experts who asked questions and provided feedback.

1st Place EV Architecture Selection Report

The EV Architecture Selection Report is the culmination of work for the propulsion modeling and integration teams in Year 1. The ASR contains three proposals for vehicles that the team has comprehensively investigated in terms of modeling and simulation, packaging and integration, and project management. This report represents a full engineering and project analysis in preparation for the next 3 years of EcoCAR EV Challenge.

1st Place EV Architecture Selection Technical Design Review

The EV Architecture Selection TDR is the first major milestone for teams in Year 1 in the Architecture Selection process. Teams presented their initial designs, modeling results and vehicle integration plans for their Cadillac LYRIQ’s in an industry-style presentation format to gain feedback and insight from a panel of industry experts in preparation for the Architecture Selection Report.

1^st Place SDI Presentation: The Year 1 System Design and Integration (SDI) Presentation is designed to evaluate the teams’ architectural decisions to meet team and competitions goals for both vehicle operation and connected and automated vehicle (CAV) activities. This includes packaging, structural analysis, mechanical/electrical/thermal design, and overall engineering methodologies. Teams are to frame their system designs in the context of the engineering process and illustrate how sound engineering methodology was applied to the design process.

1st Place Propulsion Controls & Modeling Presentation

The Year 1 Propulsion Controls and Modeling (PCM) Presentation is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the team’s modeling and development workflow throughout Year 1 of the EcoCAR EV Challenge. For Year 1, the focus of the EV Challenge for the PCM sub teams was to modify a plant model provided by MathWorks to establish Vehicle Technical Specification (VTS) goals for the team, as well as identify potential vehicle architectures to meet those goals. Teams were also tasked with establishing workflow best practices that they are to utilize throughout the year and modify based on effectiveness and feedback from team members.

1st Place Connected and Automated Vehicle Systems Presentation

The focus for the Year 1 CAV presentation is the engineering design process the team has taken while developing the Sensor Fusion Algorithm. Each team presented to a panel of judges to demonstrate each step of their development process, including problem definition, iterating and identifying potential solutions, testing, and integration plan with the full CAV software stack.

Best EcoCAR Collaboration Award

The Collaboration Award is presented to the team that offers generous assistance and support to other teams or organizers, despite their own circumstances

Ron Stence Spirit of the Challenge Award

The Spirit of the Challenge Award, named in honor of Ron Stence, a long-time competition sponsor and organizer, is given to the team that exhibits the following characteristics: exceptional perseverance in the face of adversity, maintaining a positive attitude throughout the competition despite significant challenges and obstacles, and pursuing exceptionally high technical standards for their team that best represent the Spirit of the EcoCAR competition.

Excellence in Leadership Winner & Runner Up Award

The Excellence in Leadership Award recognizes leadership skills that are critical for engineers, project managers and communicators to be successful within the EcoCAR project and throughout their careers. From watching my own team over the years lead the AVTC program, the importance of these leadership skills cannot be overstated. These skills can be the major differentiator between the success or failure of a team to achieve each teams’ individual goals.

Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award 2022-2023

The Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award is presented to the faculty advisor who best promotes the goals, objectives, and activities related to EcoCAR. Specifically, this faculty advisor emphasis is on the success of the incorporation of the EcoCAR goals, objectives, and activities into the undergraduate curriculum in the areas of interest to the program – including, but not limited to: Engineering, Communications, Project Management and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Of special importance, are the benefits students receive as a result of the EcoCAR program. Judges for this award determine the recipient based on the applications submitted, the faculty advisor who has created the best automotive experience for his/her students, and who has best used EcoCAR to enrich the university programs.

General Motors Women in STEM Winner & Rookie Award

General Motors is proud to sponsor the EcoCAR Women in STEM Awards.  These awards honor women from across many STEM disciplines who are demonstrating outstanding technical excellence both within their university academic programs and most notably, through the EcoCAR program. The Women in Stem Award highlights women who demonstrate highly developed technical skills, commitment to encouraging other women to pursue and succeed in STEM fields, and overall excitement for EcoCAR.

1^st – 3^rd Place MathWorks Model Based Design Award 

The MathWorks Model Based Design Award is structured to award the team that best applies the concepts of Model Based design using MathWorks tools in support of the Year 1 competition deliverables. Each participating team will share their successes with MathWorks tools in a live presentation and how they strived to adopt industry-grade model based design throughout the Architecture Selection process.

1^st& 2^nd Place #LikeABosch Award

The Work #LikeABosch award tasks teams with creating a video demonstrating how they grow, joy, and inspire one another in their everyday work on the EcoCAR competition. Bosch employees strive for these qualities in everything they do and raising awareness of them to teams helps cement them as an important aspect of the culture and spirit within the EcoCAR EV Challenge.