About

The University of Texas at Austin EcoCAR team has joined the Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) for the first time since its inception in 2008. The UT team brings together a diverse group of innovative and talented individuals to develop and optimize the 2023 Cadillac LYRIQ, the first all-electric Cadillac SUV.

Mission

Our mission is to use cutting-edge technologies to create impactful solutions for novel mobility systems, and to foster a welcoming environment for our students to learn to work effectively in a multidisciplinary and diverse team.  We expect students in the group to develop personal and career skills and contribute to a better future for our society.

Our vision is to build a strong bridge between UT Austin, government regulatory organizations, the automotive industry, our sponsors, and society. We endeavor to ensure that our students receive a high-quality and experiential education that will make them skilled drivers in the development of green transportation technologies.

Goals

  • Quantitatively evaluate what sensors to include on the vehicle and achieve a realistic Vehicle Technical Proposal. Additionally, we will also begin algorithmic development on the sensor fusion algorithms with the goal of having a working object detection prototype in simulation by the end of the first year.
  • Introduce DEI initiatives that inform and impact the team in which they can be ambassadors for more diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces.
  • Become a notable student organization on campus which brings together the brightest minds in various fields not limited to just engineering, entrepreneurship, or communications. The team aims to become a think-tank for innovative solutions to engineering and inclusivity in the automotive industry.

Team Members

Dr. Junmin Wang

Lead Faculty & Connected Automated Vehicle Systems Advisor

LinkedIn Profile

Dr. Junmin Wang is a professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin and holds the Lee Norris & Linda Steen Norris Endowed Professorship. His research contributions include the development of control and estimation methods that advance efficiency, cleanliness, and driving safety of conventional, electrified, connected and automated vehicles. Prof. Wang has supervised 18 Ph.D. students and 2 post-doc researchers to completion with 12 of them being faculty members at various universities and 8 of them as researchers in industry and government. Dr. Wang is the author or co-author of more than 380 peer-reviewed publications including 193 journal articles and 13 U.S. / European patents. He received seven best paper awards from IEEE, ASME, and SAE.

 

Prof. Joydeep Biswas

Faculty Advisor

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Prof. Joydeep Biswas is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests are in perception and planning for long-term autonomous mobile robots. His contributions include the development of long-term localization and mapping algorithms, algorithms for robots to self-estimate perception competency, learning-based navigation algorithms, and symbolic program synthesis and repair for end-user customizability of robots. Prof. Biswas’ research is funded by grants from the National, Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Army Research Laboratories, and several industrial sponsors. Prof. Biswas was awarded the NSF CAREER award in 2021, an Amazon Research Award in 2018, and the JP Morgan AI Faculty Research Award in 2018.

Dr. Alex Huang

Faculty Advisor

LinkedIn Profile

Dr. Alex Huang is the Dula D. Cockrell Centennial Chair in Engineering at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UT Austin. He is a world-renowned expert of power semiconductor devices, power electronics, smart grid and renewable energy system. He has published more than 550 papers in journals and conferences and is the inventor of more than 20 US patents including several patents on the Emitter turn-off (ETO) thyristor technology that received a prestigious R&D 100 award in 2003. Dr. Huang is also widely credited for his contribution in developing the Energy Internet concept and the Solid State Transformer (SST) based Energy Router technology. His work on the SST has been named by MIT Technology Review as one of the world’s 10 most important emerging technologies in 2011.

Iman Salafian

Project Manager

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Iman is a Ph.D. Student of Mechanical Engineering with a Focus on Biomechanics and Medical Devices. Iman’s ultimate goal is to dedicate his engineering skills to create technologies that enhance human health, diagnose and cure diseases, and help people with disabilities to live better. His motto is “If a plan doesn’t work, then change the PLAN, not the GOAL!”

Yung-Chi Kung

Connected Automated Vehicle Systems Lead

LinkedIn Profile

Yung-Chi Kung is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering with a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, a minor in Business, and a Computational Science and Engineering Certificate. He particularly enjoys mechanical engineering because it allows him to be involved with his creations at every step of the way, from the software to the hardware to integration and assembly. One of his favorite hobbies is indoor horticulture because it serves as a juxtaposition from the code and machinery he is usually working with and allows him to touch grass without leaving the comfort of his home.

Rishab Anand

Propulsion, Controls, & Modeling Lead

LinkedIn Profile

Rishab is currently a PhD student in the ECE department. Before this, he spent over two years with an Indian automotive OEM, working on mass market electric vehicles. He obtained his Masters' degree in Power Electronics and Power Systems from IIT Bombay, India in 2019, and an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering, with Honors, from IIT Gandhinagar, India in 2017. His current position on the UT Austin EcoCAR team is as the PCM Lead.

Arthur Zhang

Systems, Design, & Integration Lead

LinkedIn Profile

Arthur is currently pursuing a PhD in Computer Science. He is broadly interested in self/unsupervised feature learning for robotic perception. When asked how he envisions the future, he said, “All I want is a robot butler to do my chores, but for now my DJ Roomba will have to do”.

Noah Muñiz

Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Manager

LinkedIn Profile

Noah is a senior Honors Mechanical Engineering student working as the DEI team lead. His goals for the team include is to help build an inclusive environment for the EcoCAR team and spread awareness about the equity of EV's and the Automotive Industry. Noah is an avid enjoyer of indie music as well as discovering new artists.

Sherwin Shan

Communications Manager

LinkedIn Profile

Sherwin is a senior at the Moody College of Communication. His passion in integrated brand communications is rooted in his love for connecting groups through shared experiences, specifically cultural or socio-economic experiences. His favorite quote is “self-praise is no praise”. During his free time, Sherwin likes to curate specific playlists and find new food spots to gatekeep.

GET InvolveD

If you would like to be a part of the UT Austin EcoCAR team and make history, contact us at at ecocar@utexas.edu. You can also visit our website at https://sites.utexas.edu/ecocar/. If you have a passion for reaching out to underrepresented communities and creating more diverse and inclusive workspaces, email us about openings in our DEI team.

Contact Information

Address

301 E. Dean Keeton St. Austin, Texas 78705

Email

ecocar@utexas.edu