November 28, 2023

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Clemson University to launch nation’s first Bachelor of Science program in automotive engineering

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Clemson College is launching the nation’s initial undergraduate Bachelor of Science plan in automotive engineering to meet up with the promptly modifying needs of an field that is beginning to trade the inside combustion motor for batteries and human motorists for self-driving cars and trucks.

The new software solidifies Clemson’s situation as the premier College for automotive engineering investigate and training in the Southeast and outside of and provides to the offerings at its award-winning Greenville campus, the Clemson College International Middle for Automotive Investigation (CU-ICAR).

(Left to appropriate) Srikanth Pilla, ExxonMobil Staff members Endowed Chair and Professor of Automotive Engineering Clemson College President Jim Clements Zoran Filipi, founding director of the College of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering and Chris Paredis, BMW Chair in Techniques Integration stand in front of the Deep Orange strategy auto just after an announcement that Clemson College will be household to the nation’s very first automotive engineering undergraduate degree program. The announcement was produced at the 2023 South Carolina Automotive Summit in Greenville.

The diploma program’s creators anticipate it will assistance fulfill large demand for a new breed of automotive engineer to direct the layout and manufacture of automobiles and vans that are rapidly getting to be computer systems on wheels driven by electric power.

“Clemson University will continue on to direct the way for automotive engineering,” explained President Jim Clements. “We are at the coronary heart of the Southeast’s auto field, and as South Carolina’s foremost provider of engineering talent, Clemson is uniquely positioned to launch the nation’s very first Bachelor of Science diploma in automotive engineering. By means of functioning in tandem with market, state and federal associates, we are capable to form the potential of mobility and make a sturdy workforce.”

Pupils can be expecting an interdisciplinary curriculum with a sturdy experiential finding out component that is aimed at making ready them for the future of automotive manufacturing with an emphasis on slicing-edge systems ranging from electrical vehicles, innovative components, state-of-the-art production and semiconductors to e-hailing, artificial intelligence and autonomous motor vehicle software.

The program’s creators count on it to launch with as lots of as 30 college students in slide 2023 and increase to over 200 by slide 2027.

Undergraduates majoring in automotive engineering will be based on the major campus for their 1st two a long time, providing them the option to immerse by themselves in the whole Clemson Expertise, which includes cheering on the Tigers soccer workforce in Memorial Stadium, swimming in Lake Hartwell and ingesting ice cream at the ’55 Trade.

For their last two years, pupils will change to CU-ICAR, a campus that is home to Clemson’s automotive engineering faculty and graduate application. On the campus, they will be in a position to choose entire benefit of the exceptional experimental facilities and the skills situated there.

A young, Black female uses a hand-held tool to work on the metal interior frame of a car. She is wearing an orange, short-sleeve CU-ICAR polo shirt.
Pupils can be expecting an interdisciplinary curriculum that is aimed at preparing them for the potential of automotive producing with an emphasis on reducing-edge systems.

A bus service now in put connects CU-ICAR to the major campus 45 minutes away.

Clemson introduced its graduate program in automotive engineering in 2006 and was the initially university in the country to graduate a Ph.D. university student in automotive engineering and the first to graduate a female with a Ph.D. in automotive engineering.

Zoran Filipi, founding director of the College of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, said Clemson will develop on expertise and infrastructure previously in put to build the undergraduate method.

“Some of the world’s leading imagined leaders and most innovative innovators in automotive engineering are on the college in the School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering,” Filipi said. “We provide reducing-edge facilities, impactful finding out experiences and chances to collaborate carefully with industry associates. Clemson is uniquely positioned to guide in automotive engineering at each the graduate and undergraduate ranges.”

Clemson also has a one of a kind geographic advantage that allows situation the College to present the plan. The vehicle industry in South Carolina employs 74,000 and has an economic effect of $27 billion, in accordance to the condition Office of Commerce.

The broader Southeast region is household to a developing number of First Machines Manufacturers. Within just 500 miles of Clemson, the community consists of BMW, Volvo, Proterrra, Mercedes-Benz Vans, Honda, Tesla, Ford, Normal Motors, Toyota, Mazda, Nissan and Kia. Each individual brings a community of suppliers that also build careers.

The change to autonomous and electric powered automobiles could create as a lot of as 115,000 further U.S. automotive and mobility market careers in the coming ten years, which include 45,000 for mobility engineers by yourself, in accordance to a 2019 report by Boston Consulting Team.

Men and women exit an orange, futuristic looking vehicle that is parked in front of a glass building on a brick concourse. Two people in the foreground are sitting on benches.
Automotive engineering college students in their senior year will have an prospect to operate on Deep Orange prototypes, this sort of as this just one, which was featured at the Shopper Electronics Present.

Many current investments that are supporting create all those jobs in South Carolina were talked about in Gov. Henry McMaster’s Jan. 25 Point out of the Condition deal with.

To name a several examples:

* Redwood Materials will make investments $3.5 billion for a new battery materials recycling facility, the solitary largest announcement in the historical past of South Carolina.

* BMW is investing $1 billion to put together its Spartanburg plant to generate electric vehicles and $700 million to create a new, substantial-voltage battery assembly facility.

* Bosch designs to invest $200 million in Anderson County to create the company’s first manufacturing procedure of fuel mobile engineering in the United States and another $260 million as Bosch launches creation of electric powered motors in Dorchester County to guidance the U.S. current market need for electrified automobiles.

These a few investments alone are expected to generate 2,500 positions.

Laine Mears, chair of the Division of Automotive Engineering, stated desire for automotive engineers is soaring.

“The overall world-wide automotive sector is turning on a dime, and Clemson is stepping up to take the guide to meet industry’s transforming requirements for both of those technological know-how and workforce,” he stated. “The new undergraduate degree will be a definitely integrative method that delivers with each other talent from across a spectrum of disciplines, preparing pupils for the challenges of the future.”

Pupils will get started with a Standard Engineering curriculum that involves calculus, physics and other foundational courses expected of engineering majors at Clemson. Right after their first yr, students will be qualified to start off taking automotive engineering lessons.

By their senior year, pupils will be ready to get the job done on Deep Orange prototype vehicles as capstone assignments.

These who entire the undergraduate software will acquire a Bachelor of Science in automotive engineering. Students who choose to be a part of the 1st cohort are presently in their very first 12 months in college or university and would be on track to graduate in 2026.

Srikanth Pilla, the ExxonMobil Employees Endowed Chair and Professor of Automotive Engineering, led the growth of the curriculum for the new undergraduate application.

“While the new diploma program was made in an automotive context, the curriculum has been built broadly more than enough that impactful experiences will arrive at much outside of the motor vehicle, and college students will be effectively-skilled for a variety of occupations in the mobility and technological know-how workforces,” explained Pilla, who is also the founding director of Purpose for Composites Strength Frontier Exploration Middle and the Clemson Composites Centre.

“Employers could variety from auto and aerospace companies to the U.S. Military and software program organizations these kinds of as Google, Apple and Meta. This is a strong curriculum crammed with hands-on discovering ordeals aimed at getting ready college students to make a contribution on working day just one of their professions.”

A man wearing a dark blazer with a Clemson Tiger Paw lapel pin and an orange tie sits behind a desk with a computer in front of him.
Zoran Filipi, director of the College of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, stated Clemson University will create on expertise and infrastructure currently in position to make the new undergraduate automotive engineering system.

The undergraduate degree provides to a rising listing of marquee applications at CU-ICAR that incorporate:

* A graduate software that has graduated 791 master’s pupils and 100 Ph.D. students, with almost all discovering work opportunities in the automotive marketplace or academia

* Deep Orange, a plan that provides learners a possibility to design and build a prototype vehicle, mirroring the knowledge of doing work at an unique machines producer or supplier

* Digital Prototyping of Autonomy-Enabled Floor Systems (VIPR-GS), an organization that is section of a study partnership aimed at producing ground breaking digital prototyping resources to layout the up coming era of autonomy-enabled, on- and off-highway cars, with the U.S. authorities committing up to $100 million

* Purpose for Composites, an Vitality Frontier Study Centre that is advancing how composite materials are established through synthetic intelligence and inverse engineering

Clemson’s new undergraduate system will vary from automotive specialties in conventional departments and automotive. Though technology courses concentrate on producing, regimen layout, building and close functions, Clemson is likely further than the technological needs by creating an automotive engineering degree that will aim on advanced layout, enhancement and technical management of the auto realization method.

Anand Gramopadhye, dean of the College or university of Engineering, Computing and Utilized Sciences, reported Clemson’s new undergraduate degree method will assist satisfy workforce requires for the expanding automotive market.

“This multidisciplinary system delivers collectively top rated talent, reducing-edge facilities and impactful activities to build the leaders, innovators and business people of the future,” he explained. “By developing the foreseeable future workforce, the program will help strengthen the automotive industry in South Carolina and the broader Southeastern region. I thank the group that intended the new system and congratulate its users on a job nicely done.”

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