July ’24 ASPIRE Student Update

Hello & welcome to our ASPIRE student newsletter!

In this section we highlight students and their research, discuss events and student news, and provide a place for students to have a voice for the center.

Student Event Highlights

This past quarter we’ve had wonderful success with our student events.

UTEP Outreach Activities

In an effort to build community rapport, enhance transportation electrification literacy, and increase ASPIRE’s overall dissemination efforts, UTEP’s Learning and Engagement team and ASPIRE students have participated in several K-12 and community outreach events. Over the Spring 2024 semester, UTEP Learning and Engagement staff and faculty and ASA members have presented at five local K-12 schools sharing insight on the amazing work of the center, highlighting our goals to provide a healthy and sustainable future through electrified transportation systems, and inspiring young El Pasoans to become excited about the field of engineering. 

We have also connected with the local community by way of large community events (3 total, engaging over 1,000 community members). Participating in events like the El Paso Science Festival allows us to not only share information on the center’s efforts, but also make a genuine connection with people, young and old, and help address barriers and misconceptions about EVs.

At the Science Festival, which drew a crowd of over 5,000 people over two days, ASA students and ASPIRE faculty, ran a booth that focused on transportation engineering. Science Festival participants —which mostly consisted of elementary-aged children — had the opportunity to ‘design’ their own EV by using EV connect-the-dot coloring pages. They were able to race remote controlled (RC) cars, learned about wireless charging technology, and could explore options for different transportation engineering careers. Experiences such as this help make the community more aware and create enthusiasm for children and adults to explore careers in engineering. We look forward to continuing our education and outreach efforts this summer and next academic year. 

Purdue ASA Bowling Activity

On May 1, Purdue’s ASPIRE Student Association hosted a bowling activity with graduate and undergraduate students. You’ll have to ask them who the best bowler is!

USU ASA Luncheon

On June 14, Utah State University’s ASPIRE Student Association hosted a student project luncheon where students could present about the research they are doing while also having fun, getting to know each other, and enjoying some good food!

SLC Cohort Trip

From June 17 – 21, the ASPIRE Student Leadership Council went on a trip to the Detroit and Minneapolis areas. Visits included the Ford Automotive plant, the Michigan State battery lab, Stellantis, and Cummins. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn about vehicle electrification and the research being done in the automotive sector!

ASPIRE Perfect Pitch Competition

On May 30, ASPIRE hosted its internal Perfect Pitch competition. There was a wonderful group of competing students.

Zainab Imran has been chosen as the ASPIRE Perfect Pitch competition winner with Bruno Moras as the runner up.

In September, the National Science Foundation hosts its national Engineering Research Center (ERC) conference — including the National Perfect Pitch competition where our ASPIRE winner will be competing against winners from other ERCs. Wish Zainab good luck!

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Congrats & Welcome to our Year 5 Student Leadership Council!!

Please join us in welcoming our new SLC members! These students will officially take over at the annual meeting as student leadership representatives from their respective campuses.