UA’s Delphi Innovation Competition team members, from left, are Zhehui Li, Hua Liu, Xiang Yu and Zhaoquin Liu.
A team of UA students received a $2,000 grant from Delphi Packard Electric/Electrical Architecture to develop an innovative solution for charging electric vehicles wirelessly.
With funding to design and implement their idea, team members Zhehui Li, polymer science; Hua Liu, computer science; Zhaoqian Liu, chemical engineering; and Xiang Yu, chemical engineering, along with their adviser Baomei Zhao, associate professor of family and consumer sciences, will present their invention — Akron Automatic Alignment System — at Delphi’s Innovation Competition on April 17 in Warren, Ohio.
Although the team requested $1,000 to develop the idea, Delphi granted double the amount based on the students' in-depth plans, which cannot be revealed in detail until the competition.
Hua Lui says,"The project is like an industry research project with commercial secrets, which may have the potential for large-scale application in the future."
Liu says the grant application process provided a valuable learning opportunity to the team of up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
"Everyone has the opportunity to succeed. As a UA student, I am proud of receiving a grant and sharing my experience," Liu says.
Story by Theresa Augustin.
Media contact: Denise Henry, 330-972-6477 or henryd@uakron.edu.