From left: Clemson University Vice President for External Affairs Angie Reidinger, Clemson University President Jim Clements, U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, and U.S. Army GVSC Chief Scientist David Gosick. Download Image
February 28, 2022 July 20, 2022
$40 million has been invested to support the university’s Virtual Prototyping for Ground Systems (VIPR-GS) Center.
Clemson University and the U.S. Army DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVSC) announced an additional $22 million in funding for a research partnership aimed at developing innovative virtual prototyping tools for designing next-generation on-road and off-road vehicles, bringing the U.S. government’s commitment to the project to up to $100 million. The U.S. Army contributed an initial $18 million to the center in 2020. An additional $22 million committed in 2021 was formally obligated on February 24, 2022. Clemson University’s Virtual Prototyping for Autonomous Response Ground Systems (VIPR-GS) research center is providing new simulation and digital engineering capabilities, as well as hardware demonstrations, to increase the efficiency of the design-to-build process in support of GVSC’s ambitious goal of rapidly modernizing the U.S. Army fleet.
Clemson University Chancellor Jim Clements and U.S. Army GVSC Chief Scientist David Gosick made the announcement, along with U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and Zoran Filipi, founding director of the Virtual Prototyping for Ground Systems (VIPR-GS) Center. The announcement took place at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) campus in Greenville, South Carolina.
“The VIPR-GS Center on the CU-ICAR campus is the next frontier in university research collaboration and supports the Army’s priority of developing the next generation of combat vehicles through advanced autonomous systems. I would like to thank Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Jim Clyburn for their leadership on this project and their continued support of our research efforts.”
Jim Clements, President of Clemson University
“Our research activities on our main campus and at our innovation campuses across the state leverage the talents of our faculty, staff and students and provide our government and industry partners with the tools and workforce of the future,” Clements continued.
The recent funding allocation brings the Army’s current contribution to VIPR-GS to Clemson University to $40 million. In the year since the VIPR-GS center was first announced, it has added 65 faculty members and 74 master’s and doctoral students to support the research goal of advancing autonomous ground vehicle systems.
Fielding autonomous vehicles is a priority for the U.S. Army, and Dr. Filipi and the Clemson VIPR-GS team are uniquely positioned to facilitate the rapid development of virtual prototyping to accelerate the development and transformation of the technology roadmap for U.S. Army ground vehicles. Additionally, advanced digital modeling and testing capabilities enable engineers to “fail early and cheaply,” more quickly exploring the best and most robust solutions before bending metal with physical prototyping.
David Gosick, U.S. Army GVSC, DEVCOM, Chief Scientist, Army Futures Command
Research at the VIPR-GS Center focuses on autonomous ground vehicles, next-generation propulsion and energy systems, manned and unmanned teams for unpredictable off-road environments, innovative simulation, and digital engineering tools for designing systems of systems for off-road vehicle fleets. Clemson University’s College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Science’s Department of Automotive Engineering’s signature Deep Orange program provides students with hands-on hardware demonstrations and a full-scale testbed to validate their research findings.
In addition to Gosick, Army leaders visiting the VIPR-GS Center for the announcement included:
Jeffrey Jaster – DEVCOM GVSC Deputy Executive Director for Research, Technology and Integration; Denise Rizzo – S&T Fellow in the U.S. Army DEVCOM GVSC Office of the Chief Scientist; Shruti Jha – U.S. Army DEVCOM GVSC Congressional Leader;
###
Additional citations
Senator Lindsey Graham
“Clemson University has a long and proud military tradition, and we are thrilled that the U.S. Army and Clemson University are collaborating on this important project. Their work will help save the lives of American service members for years to come.”
U.S. Representative, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn
“We are pleased to help fund Clemson University’s extraordinary research that will help develop cutting-edge technologies that will strengthen our military’s capabilities and save lives. Clemson has proven it has the capabilities and expertise to be a leader in this innovative research, and this investment will enable the university to use those resources to modernize our military fleet.”
Anand Gramopadhyay, Dean of the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences, Clemson University
“This partnership highlights the remarkable interdisciplinary research being conducted by faculty and students in the School of Engineering, Computing and Applied Science, where VIPR-GS is located, in critical areas such as autonomous, connected and electrified vehicles. Through this partnership, we are transforming the transportation sector and preparing the engineering leaders of the future.”
Zoran Filipi, Founding Director of the VIPR-GS Laboratory at Clemson University and Former Chair of the Department of Automotive Engineering in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Science
“Part of the DNA of Clemson Engineering is a commitment to doing things that matter, that are transformative and that save lives. The rapid transformation of vehicle systems, both on-road and off-road, calls on us to do just that – developing digital engineering tools that dramatically accelerate design cycles and unlock the enormous potential for innovation.”
“We are grateful to Dr. Gorsich and the GVSC for the great challenge they have given us and are excited for the opportunity to be at the forefront of research and experiential learning in the automotive field.”
About Clemson’s VIPR-GS Center
The Virtual Prototyping for Ground Systems (VIPR-GS) Center is located at Clemson University’s CU-ICAR Innovation Campus in Greenville, South Carolina, with additional research facilities spread across the main campus and the CURI campus in Charleston. In 2020, the Army awarded Clemson $18 million to create VIPR-GS, which includes more than 65 Clemson faculty across eight departments in the College of Engineering, Computing and Applied Science and three departments in the College of Science, collaborating on a multi-year study with GVSC. To date, 74 students have been selected to participate in the study, with more expected to join in the coming months and years. The cooperative agreement between GVSC and Clemson University provides for a five-year term and a cap of $100 million.
VIPR-GS is led by Dr. Zoran Filipi, former dean and founding director of Clemson University’s School of Automotive Engineering, and a team of six senior professors who oversee the on-site research activities. The VIPR-GS program manager is Jeff Linden, who is also an automotive engineer.
About CU-ICAR
Recognized by the National Academy of Sciences as an example of five global best practices, CU-ICAR was established with investments from founding university partners BMW, Michelin and Timken, along with collaboration from the State of South Carolina, Clemson University and the Clemson University Real Estate Foundation. Since its inception, CU-ICAR has committed itself to becoming the world’s premier automotive research and education enterprise, being home to the award-winning Deep Orange program, creating more than 830 jobs and providing research and support to companies such as BMW, Ford, Siemens and Michelin.
About Clemson University
Clemson University is one of the nation’s most productive public research universities, with 27,341 students enrolled throughout South Carolina and an endowment of over $1 billion. The university operates extension offices in every county in the state and has five innovation campuses and six research and education centers. Classified as an R1 (very advanced research university) by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Clemson University is dedicated to teaching, research and service. Its main campus in upstate South Carolina is located on 1,400 acres in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains and along the shores of Lake Hartwell. Through faculty- and student-led research, outreach and entrepreneurial projects, Clemson University drives economic development and the quality of life in South Carolina and beyond. For more information, visit clemson.edu.
About the U.S. Army GVSC
The Development of Combat Capabilities Command (DEVCOM) Ground Vehicle Systems Center (GVCS), located in Warren, Michigan, is a United States Army facility that researches and develops advanced technologies for ground systems. U.S. Army DEVCOM is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Futures Command (AFC). GVSC shares the facility with the U.S. Army Tank, Automotive, and Ordnance Command (TACOM). Current technology areas of focus include power and mobility, autonomous systems, power projection, survivability, electronics and architectures, cyber engineering, and software integration.