The University of Notre Dame is one of the recipients of a $6.1 million federal stimulus grant to develop degree and training programs for electric vehicles, President Barack Obama announced Wednesday (Aug. 5) during a speech in Wakarusa, Ind.

The Indiana Advanced Electric Vehicle Training and Education Consortium will be led by Purdue University and also includes Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Ivy Tech Community College, Purdue University Calumet and Indiana University Northwest. The consortium’s goal is to educate and train the workforce needed to design, manufacture and maintain advanced electric vehicles and associated infrastructure.

As part of the effort, Notre Dame will offer an electric vehicle concentration as part of its B.S./M.S. engineering degree, with a special emphasis on fuel cells. The University also will make an electric vehicle class offered by Peter Bauer, a professor of electrical engineering, accessible through Purdue’s cyber infrastructure.

The project will deliver degree and certificate programs to support advanced electric vehicle technology in Indiana, the Midwest and the nation. The consortium’s organizers estimate that each year these programs will matriculate 300 degree/certificate students in electric vehicle technology and an additional 2,000 students will have taken at least one course in this technology.

Contact: Paul McGinn, 574-631-6151, mcginn.1@nd.edu