SAE Update - December 2019 - 21

MEMBER BENEFITS

Young winners of tech paper competition
shine at SAE conference

would be more beneficial to the students in
terms of learning experience to have them
present their papers shoulder to shoulder
with seasoned engineers.
The winners of the 2019 SAE Student and
Young Professional Technical Paper
Competition are:

* Young professionals: Simeon Iliev of
Argonne National Laboratory and Qilun
Zhu of Clemson University
* Students: Mehar Bade of West Virginia
University and Qianyu Ouyang of the
University of Pennsylvania

Getting personal with
Simeon Iliev

Getting personal with
Qilun Zhu

Tech paper title: "Eco-Driving
Strategies for Different Powertrain
Types and Scenarios"

Tech paper title: "Integrated
Engine States Estimation using
Extended Kalman Filter and
Disturbance Observer"

A self-described "car nut," Simeon Iliev developed
a passion for cars and Formula One racing as a
boy in Bulgaria, from which he emigrated with his
parents and sister to Chicago when he was 10
years old. He earned two bachelor's degrees and
a master's of aerospace engineering degree at
Illinois Institute of Technology.
Iliev began work as a contractor for Argonne
National Laboratory in 2015 right out of
university. He was soon hired by the lab, and now
as Research Engineer he is working on multiple
projects-one involving vehicle-to-vehicle
communication and the other cooperative
adaptive cruise control in a joint project with
Cal-Berkeley.
"I'm lucky enough that as a hobby I can work
on cars, and that's what I get to do every day at
work," a grateful Iliev told Update. In both senses
of the word, he "tools" around with his 2006
Pontiac GTO and 2008 Mercedes-Benz S550.

UPDATE

(Qilun Zhu will present his paper in Detroit at
SAE's WCX 2020 conference.)
As Assistant Research Professor in the
Automotive Engineering Department at Clemson
University, Qilun's research focuses on theories
and applications of estimation, identification,
learning, and optimal control. "During my Ph.D.
research," he told Update, "I found that many of
the challenges facing the auto industry can only
be solved with advanced theory and sometimes
inter-disciplinary knowledge. The Automotive
Engineering Department of Clemson University
has a similar vision of the industry, and my
expertise fits very well with the faculty team."
Zhu says his hometown, Changchun City, Jilin
Province, is the birthplace of the Chinese
automotive industry. "Same as many of my friends,
I had a passion for cars and an urge to understand
the dynamics that moves a vehicle," he said.

December 2019

21

https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-2608/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-2603/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-2608/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-2603/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-2608/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-2603/ https://www.sae.org/publications/technical-papers/content/2019-01-2603/

SAE Update - December 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SAE Update - December 2019