Professor Tai-Ran Hsu, from the Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Department, led a team of SJSU students to develop the ZEM (Zero EMissions) Car, a Human Hybrid Powered Vehicle (HHPV), which won the National I2P (Idea-to-Product) Competition for EPICS and Social Entrepreneurship at Princeton University on March 24, 2007. A multidisciplinary project, the ZEM car is the first of its kind to be powered by human, solar, and electric energy. The target audience is people living in urban areas and developing countries.

Included as part of the prize is $15,000, to be used toward investing in the car's technology and commercialization. The students will continue on to Austin, TX, in the Fall to compete in the global I2P competition.

Faculty supervisors include Dr. Raymond Yee, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, and Dr. Thuy Le, Electrical Engineering. Dr. Malu Roldan, of Management Information Systems of the College of Business, served as faculty consultant. The SJSU student team consisted of 17 students from the Mechanical Engineering program, including one graduate student, and 3 students from Electrical Engineering. Two students have earned special recognition, Scott Cassell and Tim Wang.

The Social Entrepreneurship Working Group, who provided their expertise and advised the SJSU team, consisted of Brad Maihack, Richard Sessions, and Richard Okumoto. The Industrial Advisory Panel consisted of Gregory Brown, Robert Garzee, Jim Helmer, Yevgeny Meydbray, and Jim Robbin. Jeff Gordon from SJSU Research and Foundation served as a consultant. Dr. Belle Wei, Dean of the COE, and Dr. Fred Barez, Chair of MAE, sponsored the team.

Links:
http://cbs5.com/video/?id=22118@kpix.dayport.com [ video story ]
http://www.sjsu.edu/news/news_detail.jsp?id=2181