To reach its 2040 goal of NetZero carbon emissions, the Port of Virginia (POV) must address the army of equipment that operates throughout the port 24/7 and is essential to the transfer of containers among ships, rail, and trucks. A team of University of Virginia (UVA) students presented some possible solutions to that challenge Sept. 27, 2022.

Five Systems Engineering capstone undergraduate students and six Ph.D. and M.S. graduate students, working with Professor James H. Lambert, Mr. Thomas L. Polmateer and CCALS, presented projects addressing the electrification of the port vehicles and had a facility tour at the Virginia International Gateway, a POV automated container port. The students used Simio simulation software and MS PowerBI for their analyses.

The visit was hosted by Dan Hendrickson, the POV Vice President for Asset Management and Special Projects, and Barbara Schoeb Nelson, the POV Vice President for Government Affairs and Transportation Policy and the port’s representative to CCALS. The CCALS and POV effort is supported in part by the National Science Foundation’s Center for Hardware & Embedded Systems Security & Trust (CHEST). The undergraduate capstone students are Katia Forkin, Tim Costello, Carter Paulen, Tanu Roy and Matthew Swierczewski. The graduate students are Davis Loose, Negin Moghadasi, DeAndre Johnson, Rebecca Rebar, Robert Baker, and Ronnie Hamilton.

Photo courtesy UVA: UVA students and instructors pose along with Port of Virginia representatives after the presentations.