Georgia Southern University offers the Excellence in Research Program to young engineers who are competitive in their focus.
Through this program young engineers are invited to use state of the art technology in a lab that took over 12 years and $3 million to build.
The Renewable Energy and Engines Laboratory is directed by Dr. Valentin Soloiu , a professor and engineer for over 30 years who is the Distinguished Chair of Renewable Energy and a Professor in Georgia Southern's Department of Mechanical Engineering.
‘“The lab has about 10 students who are researchers and seven or eight trainees,” said Dr. Soloiu. “We start very early, we start practically sophomore year introducing students into research and they do research in three years undergraduate two year’s masters.”
Students in the lab are a part of Georgia Southern’s Excellence in Research Program which absorbs all the costs of what it takes to accommodate students during their time as researchers.
The knowledge the students gain from the research they do is evaluated through conference and journals papers peer reviewed at a national and international level.
One of the students a part of this intensive, five-year program that requires a minimum of 10 hours of research a week, is Amanda Weaver in order to remain a part of.
Her research began two years ago and she is now a Georgia Southern graduate who is using her skills from the Excellence in Research Program to enter an even more competitive environment.
Ms. Weaver's abstract from her on-going research has been approved for her to display the progress of her research.
She is designing a high-pressure injection system that has a variety of different sensors to determine the different characteristics of fuels, how they affect injection systems, and how they behave when injected.
She will showcase her research at a Virtual national conference in May which will determine the 10 students from across the country who will be accepted into the even more focus summer engineering program called the Department of Defense- National Science Foundation Research Experience for graduates that Georgia Southern hosts.
Ms. Weaver will continue testing the different types of fuels through her project and this will help focus on better ways to tackle the complexities of internal combustion.
Automotive engineering research such as Ms. Weaver’s are being done to accomplish better internal combustion in cars for them to be able to go faster.
“We have a jet engine in the lab that we run, we have special fuels from aerospace applications, both civil and military fuels,” said Soloui. “We tried to find the best fuels that produce less nitrogen oxide and greenhouse gases”.
The testing of these fuels will not only make cars go faster but they will also begin to help environmentally because the results will help to produce fuels that produce less carbon dioxide, less noisy jet engines and ground support.
Richard Smith, an undergraduate researcher, also works in the The Renewable Energy and Engines Laboratory.
“We do RCCI research, which is reactivity-controlled compression ignition, “said Smith. “It is using a bio-alcohol with traditional diesel compression ignition methods to produce lower emissions in the test engines”.
Ms. Weaver's love for cars and the automotive industry may stem from her interesting hobby, horseback riding.
Her agility and competitiveness from her equestrian adventures prove to give her the same need to produce speed.
In the future, Weaver has her sights already set as far as her occupation.
“I’m really into the industry, I want to go to Detroit to the automotive industry and work for Dodge,” said Weaver. “ I like their attitude toward automotive manufacturing and performance.”
