Alumni Provide Support to Challenge X Team
It didn’t take long for Rose- Hulman Institute
of Technology alumnus Arthur McGrew to show his pride in the
college’s participation in the Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable
Mobility engineering competition.
“This is an incredible opportunity for
Rose-Hulman and its students,” says McGrew (Mech. Eng., ’81),
engineering design manager for General Motors Corporation’s new
EP40/50 bus program and GM's corporate contact for Rose-Hulman's
Challenge X team.
Rose-Hulman is one of 17 U.S. and Canadian
colleges and universities participating in the Challenge X
competition, sponsored by GM and the U.S. Department of Energy. More
than 50 undergraduate students have spent the past 18 months
transforming a gasoline-powered 2005 Chevrolet Equinox sport utility
vehicle into a hybrid vehicle that strives to minimize energy
consumption, emissions and greenhouse gas production. Teams will
demonstrate their vehicles this summer to make sure they’re meeting
project goals.
“Rose-Hulman’s team is on the cutting edge in
several areas involving hybrid vehicle development. I have no doubt
that Rose-Hulman will have a top-notch team at the end of the
project,” said McGrew, who has a quarterly on-site review with team
members.
McGrew isn’t the only alumnus providing
valuable assistance to the Challenge X team. Others who have made
contributions include:
Craig Winn (Mech. Eng., ’73),
president and CEO of Applied Technologies Inc., has provided
technical support on designing the vehicle’s state-of-the-art
transmission.
Rick Stanley (Mech. Eng., ’78),
president of Remy International, has encouraged the company to
provide technical and financial support.
Michael Ruth (Mech. Eng., ’88) made
it possible for the team to utilize Cummins’ FleetGuard
emissions controls technology.
Michael Schwenk (Elect. Eng., ’73)
helped the team obtain financial and in-kind technical support
from Jasper Engines & Transmissions.
Jeffrey Moore (Mech. Eng., ’83)
arranged for team members to have technical conferences with
engineers from Toyota Motor Manufacturing’s hybrid vehicle
division.
Keith Cavallini (Mech. Eng. ’96) of
Cav Engineering provided diesel engines and technical support.
Darrin Davidson (Mech. Eng. ’86), a
regional manager for Sears, made it possible for the team to
obtain Craftsman tools.
