Meet Junmin Wang, a Cadillac in his field
Written by: Sherwin Shan
Dr. Junmin Wang is the University of Texas at Austin’s lead faculty for the EcoCAR EV Challenge program. Dr. Wang is also a professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. The Lee Norris & Linda Steen Norris Endowed Professor is a jack of all trades and Masters in three degrees (pun intended).
After graduating with honors in 1997 as an automotive engineering B.E in Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, he pursued an M.S. in Power Machinery and Engineering in the same university.
Being the overachiever and star-student in his field, he then completed two more master’s degrees in electrical engineering and mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, before joining the University of Texas at Austin where he received a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 2007. While pursuing his Ph.D. at UT Austin, Dr. Wang also worked full-time as a senior research engineer at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas from 2003 to 2008, where he developed control and estimation methods that advance efficiency, cleanliness, and driving safety of conventional, electrified, connected, and automated vehicles.
The Longhorn then brought his years of experience to his first faculty position in Ohio State University as an assistant professor in 2008. Acknowledging his passion for teaching and expertise in the field, he was awarded an early promotion to associate professor by September 2013. three years later, he was then given one of the earliest promotions in OSU history to a full professor.
By 2018, he had missed the warmth – literally and figuratively – that Austin, Texas provided. So, he returned as the Accenture Endowed Professor in Mechanical Engineering where he shares his knowledge with future engineers and change-makers of the world.
Throughout his career at the University, as a friend of many, he also is quite the “fellow”, holding two Fellow grades in Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) (2015), and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) (2016).
His current involvement includes research in areas of control, modeling, estimation, optimization, and diagnosis of dynamical systems, in mobility applications. Dr. Wang also leads the Mobility Systems Lab at the University of Texas, where he has worked with over 30 graduate students and many undergraduate students to research electrified and conventional ground vehicle, autonomous vehicle, intelligent transportation, smart and sustainable mobility, human-centric automation, cyber-physical, and mechatronic systems.
The recipient of seven best paper awards from the IEEE, ASME, and SAE, was one of the main supporters for UT’s involvement in the AVTC’s EcoCAR EV Challenge. Using his decades of experience and harnessing his passion for developing the vehicles of the future, he worked with Dr. Alex Q. Huang and Dr. Joydeep Biswas to form UT Austin’s first AVTC team in 15 years.
When asked what excites him about being involved in EcoCAR, Wang said “It brings together my love for engineering and guiding the next generation of change-makers together. Oh, and I also love challenges!”
As the lead faculty advisor, Dr. Wang has invested significant interests in the team. His support and guidance in weekly meetings has been a morale booster for the brand-new UT Austin EcoCAR team.
To learn more about the UT Austin EcoCAR team, please visit our website at https://sites.utexas.edu/ecocar/ or contact us at ecocar@utexas.edu.
Learn more about Dr. Junmin Wang and his publications by visiting his Faculty page.
