Remy Adds Corporate Support for Rose-Hulman's Challenge X Team

		Dr. Zachariah Chambers (right), co-faculty adviser of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Challenge X project, shows Remy International Inc. officials the vehicle test frame that is being used in the development of the college's hybrid sports utility vehicle for a national engineering competition. Remy Inc. officials visiting campus on April 28 were (from left) Tom Merrill, engineering manager; Richard Stanley, president; and Tom VanderLaan, director of sales and marketing. (PRNewsFoto) ANDERSON, IN USA

ANDERSON, Ind., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Remy International, Inc., has joined a premier group of corporate backers to provide engineering expertise and long-term sponsorship for Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Challenge X team, as part of a national collegiate competition, to develop more energy efficient vehicle systems. In addition to the multi-year monetary sponsorship, Remy's electrical engineers will advise Rose-Hulman's Challenge X team members on the latest technologies for electric motors, generators and advanced vehicle propulsion. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050503/DETU034 ) The U.S. Department of Energy and General Motors Corporation are teaming up with other sponsors to challenge the best and brightest engineering students in the new competition series, Challenge X: Crossover to Sustainable Mobility. Seventeen university teams from the U.S. and Canada will follow a hands- on, real world engineering process, based on GM's Global Vehicle Design Process at each phase of a three-year competition. By applying proven methods for engineering successful prototype vehicles, students will learn real-world engineering skills that will make them highly valuable to the automotive community in Indiana and nationwide. Rose-Hulman students will re-engineer a new Equinox, a GM crossover sport utility vehicle platform, to integrate cutting-edge advanced automotive technologies and alternative fuels, such as hydrogen, ethanol and biodiesel, to develop a process approach for power systems that minimizes total environmental impact and builds sustainable transportation in the future. There are 70 Rose-Hulman students from several different engineering and science disciplines currently involved in the project. Annually, for the next three years, Challenge X participants will come together for the competitive judging and evaluation, based upon energy use improvement, emissions reduction, total vehicle utility, operational performance, quality of engineering and K-12 education outreach. Assisting Rose-Hulman's Challenge X team in the projects will be Remy Inc. President Richard L. Stanley, and Remy engineers James Spellman, David Fulton, Thomas VanderLaan, Thomas Merrill and Richard Huibregtse. "We are confident that this partnership with education and the business community will offer unique learning experiences and solutions that will benefit the students, the state of Indiana and the future of the industry," Stanley noted. Rose-Hulman President John J. Midgley said the partnership will provide the team with career-related opportunities to work with world-class engineers. "This is an important new relationship between Remy International and Rose-Hulman's Challenge X team. Our students will benefit from the financial support provided, and the accessibility to expertise with leading engineers in hybrid power technology," Midgley stated. The partnership also provides students with the opportunity to participate in summer internships and co-op work experiences, according to Zac Chambers, Rose-Hulman Challenge X team's co-faculty adviser and assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Remy International, Inc., headquartered in Anderson, Indiana, is a leading manufacturer, remanufacturer and distributor of Delco Remy brand heavy-duty systems and Remy brand starters and alternators, diesel engines and hybrid power technology. The company also provides worldwide components core- exchange service for automobiles, light trucks, medium and heavy-duty trucks and other heavy-duty, off-road and industrial applications. Remy was formed in 1994 as a partial divestiture by General Motors Corp. of the former Delco Remy Division, which traces its roots to Remy Electric, founded in 1896. More information is available at the following websites: http://www.remyinc.com http://www.rose-hulman.edu/challengex http://www.challengex.org