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Aug. 20, 2024

Staff voice: The future of mobility starts here

Professional Headshot of Judd Herzer
Judd Herzer

Judd Herzer is the director of MSU Mobility at Michigan State University.

The future of mobility will have a tremendous impact on the fabric of our everyday lives. Here on campus, MSU Mobility is advancing talent and innovation for all forms of mobility through our campus-wide collaboration across six MSU colleges, student engagement, research excellence, an unrivaled real-world testing ecosystem, and results-focused partnerships that catalyze the economic impact of Spartan innovations.

For the past year, I have had the pleasure of leading MSU Mobility. It has been truly fascinating to uncover the sheer number of mobility-oriented projects the university takes on, the number of faculty members who are defining what’s next in the space and the thrilling potential for our program.

Since joining MSU Mobility, I’ve witnessed new projects get underway, helped forge new partnerships, worked to create awareness among our wide range of stakeholders and — through the support of a great team of faculty and researchers — made significant steps toward streamlining our resources and better defining our path forward. We launched recurring meetings with a Mobility CORE group of faculty to weigh in on priorities and help mine for data to identify goals that will greatly contribute to our strategic plan. Plus, our MSU Mobility Advisory Council has reengaged and grown, bringing a host of valuable expertise from key industry experts who will help guide us on the way.

 Judd Herzer (second from the left) in Las Vegas during the PoliMOVE-MSU testing for the Indy Autonomous Challenge Credit: PoliMOVE-MSU team
Judd Herzer (second from the left) in Las Vegas during the PoliMOVE-MSU testing for the Indy Autonomous Challenge Credit: PoliMOVE-MSU team

Our participation with the Indy Autonomous Challenge as part of the PoliMOVE-MSU racing team is just one of the exciting new projects we’ve become involved with in the past 12 months. This high-speed autonomous vehicle racing platform offers an exhilarating, real-world scenario for students to apply their classroom knowledge in one of the most extreme environments imaginable.

What I truly love about this experiential learning opportunity is it gives students the chance to both identify Michigan’s mobility sector as their future career field and develop a positive team mindset about competing in the private sector. That competitive attitude erupted into celebration in July when we set two autonomous race car records at the Goodwood Festival of Speed — achieving the hill climb in 66.37 seconds and hitting a top speed record of 111 mph.

I’m beyond thrilled that Spartans are breaking new ground for autonomous vehicle technologies, pushing driverless vehicles at top racecar speeds. I’ll be eagerly awaiting our next big race in Indianapolis in September!

MSU faculty members, post-doctoral researchers and graduate students have also been making headway with the new mobility research initiative that launched in cooperation with the U.S. Army Ground Vehicle Systems Center and with funding from the U.S Department of Defense last summer.

Along with two other universities, MSU is aiming to build lightweight, all-terrain autonomous electric vehicles that will create a technological edge in our nation’s autonomous mobility and support national security efforts. This five-year program will be a prime example of creating the next-generation STEM workforce.

Find out more on what Judd Herzer has to say on MSUToday.

College of Engineering Media and Public Relations page