Ask Subith Vasu what drives him, and he 麻豆精品 S檒l answer a rapidly changing automotive industry and consumer demand for environmentally friendly products. The assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering works with his student research team testing next-generation fuels to find out which ones are actually better for cars and the planet.
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Vasu and his students research high temperature energy conversion to discover what happens when fuels such as gasoline convert into energy and change into new substances. The creation of new biofuels, Vasu said, brings questions of whether the fuel will emit substances that are safe for vehicle engines and for the environment. In his lab, Vasu uses a shock tube to study how these fuels break down 麻豆精品 S� at what temperature, how long it takes and what they emit.
It 麻豆精品 S檚 this work with his student team that led Vasu recently to be named recipient of the 2018 Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers 麻豆精品 S� or SAE 麻豆精品 S� whose original leadership team in 1905 included Henry Ford. The international award, established in 1963, honors and recognizes younger engineering educators who are preparing students to successfully meet the challenges that face society.
By providing hand-on learning opportunities, that 麻豆精品 S檚 exactly what Vasu is doing, his students say. 麻豆精品 S淚n [past] internships, I saw a number of engineers doing managerial and quality control work, and I knew that 麻豆精品 S檚 not what I wanted, 麻豆精品 S� said Sam Barak, a graduate research assistant and doctoral student. 麻豆精品 S淚 wanted to be the one doing the research and creating the protocols. And to do that, I needed my Ph.D. and this hands-on research. 麻豆精品 S�
As the first person at UCF to receive this SAE award, Vasu hopes his student team will grab the attention of an entire industry.
麻豆精品 S淭raditionally, winners of the award come from the U.S. Midwest, where companies like Ford and GM thrive, 麻豆精品 S� he said. 麻豆精品 S淛ust like UCF supplies the power-generation and aerospace workforce, Midwestern universities supply the automotive workforce. This award means that we 麻豆精品 S檒l be able to create a network and pipeline for students wanting to go into the automotive industry.
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This is not the first international recognition for Vasu and his team. He was the 2017 winner of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 麻豆精品 S� Dilip Ballal Early Career Award for contributions to gas turbine area. His research group also was the subject matter of a 2016 United Nations documentary film, 麻豆精品 S淐ombustion Man, 麻豆精品 S� which featured his research on destroying chemical weapons.
Additionally, Vasu received the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Young Investigator Award, and he was an early career grant recipient of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund. At UCF, Vasu is a 2016 Research for the Stars recipient and an inaugural UCF Luminary. Vasu also is a participating faculty member in the interdisciplinary energy conversion and propulsion cluster and a faculty member in UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research.
He will receive this latest award April 10 in Detroit at the annual SAE World Congress.