Conference: Student Engagement in 2023 NASA-SAE International Energy & Mobility Technology, Systems, and Value Chain Conference & Expo

2023 Energy and Mobility Conference, also known as 2023 NASA-SAE International Energy & Mobility Technology, Systems, and Value Chain Conference & Expo convenes professionals from across the global energy and mobility technical & business communities (including energy and infrastructure, aviation and space, autonomous control, automotive and commercial vehicles) to facilitate information sharing, technology transfer, conversations on key questions, cross-industry collaboration and synergistic approaches. It has been a tradition to invite faculty and students from academic institutions to the conference with the purpose to expose diverse students to the real-world projects and solutions that require multi-disciplinary and system-level research at the different technology readiness levels.

Covid-19 pandemics has prevented more students from direct interaction with industries and government research centers in conferences like this one. This project provides the support to diverse students to participate in this conference, interact with over one hundred speakers, hear presentations and keynote speeches from technology experts, policy and decision makers, and leading company executives dealing with the vital challenges of securing our future Energy and Mobility, consistent with climate goals.

The specific goal of this project is to recruit and engage students with diverse background, such as underrepresented minority students, in interactions with conference presenters of various advanced technology developments and initiatives. The energy and mobility technology development impacts a vast spectrum of industry and society in general. A pathway of such technology development dictates a close relationship between NASA, industries and academia.

New advances in this field prompted by an increased attendance and collaborations at the conference through this grant would help improve and optimize numerous applications of societal benefit such as turbines, fuel cells, hybrid and electric aircraft, space vehicles, lunar bases, electronic devices, freshwater production, industrial processes, alternative fuels such as hydrogen, and medicine, among others. Being engaged in a conference with NASA Glenn Research Center and industries, students can relate to their learning and research experience in the academic institutions in areas such as thermal and fluids engineering, energy engineering and sustainability related sciences.

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.