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November 15, 2006
Dr. Doug Nelson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, 11-17-06
Dr. Doug Nelson, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech, teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Fuel Cell Systems, Hydrogen Energy Systems, Advanced Technology Vehicles and Design.
Dr. Nelson also is co-director of the Department of Energy GATE Center for Automotive Fuel Cell Systems, a multidisciplinary graduate automotive engineering program that focuses on technologies critical to the development of fuel-efficient/low-emission vehicles.
He has expertise in modeling, testing, and validation of fuel cell and hybrid electric vehicles. Dr. Nelson is the founding advisor of the Virginia Tech Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team (HEVT), a student organization that designs and builds hybrid electric and alternative-fueled vehicles for advanced vehicle technology competitions. Since 1994 the HEVT has participated in national student-designed vehicle competitions sponsored by DOE and U.S. automakers.
Under Dr. Nelson's guidance, the HEVT has won a number of awards while participating in the previous FutureCar and FutureTruck challenges. During those competitions, Dr. Nelson and his student teams created the world's first student-designed fuel-cell-powered car and sports utility vehicle (SUV). In June 2006, the team placed first in the second-year competition of Challenge X, sponsored by DOE and General Motors. The HEVT re-engineered a Chevrolet Equinox SUV into an ethanol-powered hybrid vehicle.
In 1996 the Society of Automotive Engineers presented Nelson with the Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions as one of the nation's top engineering educators in the field of automotive technology. In 1998 he received the National Science Foundation's FutureCar Challenge Faculty Advisor of the Year Award, and in 2005 he received NSF's Outstanding Long-Term Faculty Advisor Award.
Dr. Nelson earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech and his Ph.D. at Arizona State University.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the largest departments within Virginia Tech's College of Engineering, awarding approximately 220 undergraduate, 60 masters of Science, and 10 Doctoral degrees annually. Virginia Tech's programs in Mechanical Engineering are consistently ranked in the top 10-15% of Mechanical Engineering Departments in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. Currently, the Virginia Tech graduate program is ranked 20th in the nation, and its undergraduate program is ranked 17th nationally.
Posted by David Lemberg at November 15, 2006 01:40 PM Return to SCIENCE AND SOCIETY home page