Joseph, I have spoken with a few instructors at MAST about this over the last 15 months or so, including of course Dr. Wafa Khalil and a couple of her colleagues. The answer is that no, they don't have the funding; they don't have the space to work on cars; and furthermore, they don't have any instructors there with the requisite mechanical skills, like welding, etc. As its name implies, MAST is a highly specialized school focused on maritime and science technology. Unfortunately, the school does not include a traditional auto mechanics class as part of its core focus and curriculum. But that is what you really need as a prerequisite for an EV program at a high school -- an auto shop class -- because then you've got the tools, machines, and the work space that is all required to do conversions. My understanding is that most high school EV programs seem to start out as non-core curriculum after-school club type programs that the conventional ICE auto mechanics instructor heads up. Then after a few years, if the after-school club is successful and if the auto shop instructor has the backing and support of the school's principal (which is the most important factor) as well as that of the local school district, then the EV program can be incorporated into the curriculum as an actual course (but not without a lot of bureaucratic hurdles to surmount). It's a long and difficult process which requires the right set of circumstances and all the stars in the heavens to be aligned just right. MAST has currently got a principal who is very supportive of renewable energy and alternative transportation, including EVs, plus of course a number of very supportive instructors (albeit without the requisite mechanical skills), but none of the rest of elements are there for an EV program at MAST. I have spoken with Dr. Khalil and her colleagues about the amount of money that would be required to build an adjacent garage facility on the school property; I think we might have estimated that it would cost at least a half-million dollars. Dr. Khalil and her colleagues were very pessimistic about the the prospects of being able to get any such funding. After numerous conversations with a couple of different teachers who would nevertheless really like to see it happen, our mutual conclusion is that it is probably not going to happen.
There are other personal/personnel factors as well (which would be inappropriate for me to publicly discuss) that make it highly unlikely that such a program would be able to get off the ground at MAST in the amount of time it would take (at least a few years) to see the effort through to fruition and the continuity that would require. Charles ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph T. " <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "FLEAA Mailing List" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, July 25, 2008 1:00 AM Subject: Re: [FLEAA] The Resergence of the EVI Charles, does MAST have any funding yet? Or a place to work on the car? Has anything been organized? They could start this school year if nothing gets in the way. _______________________________________________ Florida EAA mailing list [email protected] http://www.floridaeaa.org
