If motorists in places where winter strikes hard find
it easier to start their cars, they might have a University of Texas
at Austin graduate student to thank.
Marcus Ashford, who will graduate with a mechanical
engineering Ph.D. in May, developed an on-board distillation system
for gasoline-powered vehicles that reduces emissions by 82 percent.
He worked with Dr. Ron Matthews, a professor
in the Department of Mechanical
Engineering.
The university and Ford Motor Co. patented the system
in 2001. It promises to lead to vehicles that start more easily, run
more smoothly in cold weather, have better fuel economy and are less
expensive.
The National Society of Black Engineers recognized
Ashford for his groundbreaking research by naming him its 2004 Graduate
Student of the Year as part of the society’s Golden Torch awards.
Ashford also gets high marks from his professor. “In
my more than 25 years of teaching and supervising graduate students,
Marcus is one of the very best I have worked with,” Matthews says.
“He is extremely personable, dedicated, motivated, mature and
intelligent.”
Ashford, a native of Zachary, La., will graduate in
May 2004 and is considering careers in academia and research and development.
With 15,000 members and more than 300 chapters nationwide,
the National Society of Black Engineers is the largest student-run
organization
in the country “dedicated to raising the profile of African-American
engineers.”
