Written by: Angel Garcia
Meet Michael Leamy, a Professor of Mechanical Engineering and lead faculty advisor to Georgia Tech’s EcoCAR team. Growing up in Glenmont, New York, a small town in Upstate just outside of Albany, Dr. Leamy was always fascinated by cars. In high school, out of necessity, he bought a 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit and replaced its engine with a good used one. “That car was an early fuel-injected vehicle, and at the time, was advanced in terms of its mechanical and electrical operation,“ said Dr. Leamy. “I had only a little bit of experience working on cars, but with a shop manual and a little help from my twin brother maneuvering the engine into place, I got it running. I then drove that car through high school and college. After high school, it was clear I might have some aptitude for engineering, so I became a mechanical engineer.” He began his professional career as an Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was initially brought to Georgia Tech back in 2007, in part by Dr. Wayne Whiteman, previously Dr. Leamy’s colleague at West Point.
“EcoCAR, in my opinion, is the premiere automotive competition team on campus. We are funded at the highest level; we work on the most complex vehicles; we are trained by General Motors, Argonne National Labs, and MathWorks; and our students are in great demand by the automotive industry. If you want to learn about the automotive industry and you want to network with OEMs and suppliers, there is no better activity than EcoCAR!” – Dr. Michael Leamy
Time at Tech
With 15 years of experience here at Tech and over 25 years in active research, Dr. Leamy has a wealth of knowledge in and outside of the automotive industry. His current research is focused on acoustic metamaterials and smart charging of electric vehicles, where his research group develops mathematical models and designs experiments capable of capturing linear and nonlinear responses in systems ranging in scale from the nano- to the macroscale. His research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Sandia National Labs, Honeywell Inc., the Department of Energy, General Motors, and Georgia Tech’s Strategic Energy Institute. You can find more about Dr. Leamy’s research on his Google Scholar page.
EcoCAR
Currently the lead faculty advisor to Georgia Tech’s EcoCAR program, Dr. Leamy and his colleagues (Drs. David Taylor and Antonia Antoniou) actively oversee the team’s activities, working hands-on with undergraduate and graduate students, and getting to know them on a personal level. Dr. Leamy first became involved with EcoCAR after developing a course with Professors David Taylor and Ken Cunefare on Hybrid Electric Vehicle Powertrains (ME 4013), which has been taught for more than a decade. He’s had a long history with the team, joining EcoCAR1 in 2009 and has continued his involvement since. Throughout the years the team has grown to become a fixture in the Department of Energy’s EcoCAR program. Dr. Leamy describes as his favorite memory on the team “hearing Georgia Tech called to the podium repeatedly during the Year 4 Competition of the EcoCAR Mobility Challenge, and then subsequently winning the competition.”
