REU Site: Control and Sensing in Autonomous Vehicles

This new three-year REU Site: Control and Sensing in Autonomous Vehicles is hosted by Kettering University. Ten students each year will develop their research skills and interests in the technical workforce contributing to the development of autonomous vehicles. Students will focus on the technical challenges and how to meet them through increasing the level of autonomy in the automotive industry and address issues such as preventing driver fatigue, providing mobility to those who are unable to drive, and increasing safety on the roads. Students will work on projects across the disciplines of mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, and physics. Participants can engage in projects featuring automotive control systems, AI, microelectronics, semiconductors, sound quality, transistors, subjective testing, vehicle safety, injury risk metrics and orthopedic fracture repair. The REU site will recruit heavily from community colleges and baccalaureate colleges. Faculty members from multiple engineering disciplines, computer science, and natural science will serve as research mentors as REU students work on projects related to the increasing level of autonomy in automotive systems. The objective of this REU Site is to expose students to interdisciplinary research in the broad area of autonomous vehicles. Participants will not only conduct research on topics relevant to autonomous vehicles but also have opportunities to interact with faculty conducting state of the art research on autonomous vehicles, industry professionals, and a variety of other faculty on campus. Research projects will feature the development of control algorithms, sensing methods and techniques for providing information about the environment to the vehicle, the programming required to make use of various kinds of networks, cybersecurity issues that affect autonomous vehicles, and issues surrounding vehicle dynamics and vibration. The results of their research projects will help to advance our knowledge base on vehicle autonomy and answer important questions about the fundamental principles that will allow for the future development of safe autonomous vehicles. Professional development activities include preparation for graduate studies, industry speakers and visits, and the exploration of STEM careers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.