Schoolcraft is always discovering new ways to provide new and innovative curriculum for the future, and electric vehicle engineering is not going to be left behind. Through many partnerships with industries and University of Michigan, Schoolcraft is developing a new program named EV Switch.
This program will have a speciality in electric cars. Though credit classes are not available as of yet, the team of several people including Jessica Kruegur-Koupal, Project Coordinator Workforce Development, are tirelessly working to make that happen. Along with her is Frank Abkenar, Mobility Sector Liaison (GF) Workforce & Economic Development, who comes from the industry and has worked at Ford for many years. Abkennar evaluates what the program needs and analyzes what programs currently exist and what programs and curriculum may need to be made or updated.
The process of getting a curriculum eligible for students to take for credit is a rigorous process. “The hope is that the course will be put together by the end of Summer 2025,” said Krueger-Koupal. However, it probably won’t be ready for at least a year. Since this is a very new program, that still needs a bit of work. Schoolcraft students will have to wait for it to become a credit course. Krueger-Koupal also mentioned that they are working diligently to make into at least a PPL (Personal, Professional Learning), as soon as possible.
Krueger-Koupal joined the team in May 2024, she specializes in curriculum development and is very tech savvy and is using her skills to organize the curriculum onto Schoolcraft’s blackboard system. There are eight courses total, starting with the building of the electric vehicle, called the SC in the Manufacturing and Engineering Center campus. The remaining courses are currently online. This program has currently been running for about a month, and currently in its pilot phase.
Though there are several industry partners, Roush Performance is working to have at least 50 employees to go through the EV Switch program. Roush was founded in 1995, by Jack Roush. They mostly work with Ford and have received a couple electric vehicle custom projects.
“Many employees are wanting to learn how to safely work on them,” said Krueger-Koupal. Roush began to realize a need to train employees, they partnered with Schoolcraft to be the first to help build a much needed curriculum. Many employees are either very new to electric or have some experience.
Along with Roush, Schoolcraft is partnering with University of Michigan’s Electric Vehicle Center, where they have a team specifically for creating curriculum. Jason Siegel, a professor at UofM, is the main point of contact and is a mechanical engineer. Jesse Kittel is the project coordinator and Bashar Abdulnour is the thermal management specialist and newest to the team. “We will have a special focus on thermal management for the program,” said Krueger-Koupal. With electric and hybrid vehicles, having a system that cools the battery is essential, thermal runaway can become a huge problem, usually resulting in fires.
The car itself does not have doors or windows, however it can run and even be driven on the roads.
Students work on the low and high voltage electrical wiring and balancing the batteries. Roush has sent through three groups of employees thus far.
The car itself needed to be built beforehand and Schoolcraft hired three current engineering students. During class engineering students were offered to build the structure for the switch vehicle. Katie Jackson, Christian Hutan and Peter Janisch during the month of October worked together to build the vehicle.
“We had all the components and needed the students to put them together,” said Krueger-Koupal. Jackson took to the building so well and already works at an oil change company. Her having the opportunity to be a part of this really helped her.
Future engineering students won’t have to wait too long for new classes to come along soon to help them further their careers in this ever growing field.
