Lawmakers and educators have been pushing STEM education for some time now, and researchers at West Virginia University are again showing why knowledge of science, technology, engineering and mathematics is important.
A team of researchers from the school discovered something amiss with carbon emissions from certain Volkswagen vehicles. The team, funded by the International Council on Clean Transportation, conducted road tests on certain vehicles to determine if the their real-world performance matched the testing of auto emissions standards.
According to WVU: "Results of the study conducted by WVU's Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines and Emissions, or CAFEE, found that nitrogen oxide emissions - one of the top six common air pollutants - from two Volkswagen light-duty diesel engines exceeded the EPA's Tier 2-Bin 5 standard. One vehicle exceeded the standard by a factor of 15 to 35 and the other by a factor of 5 to 20."
The German car company acknowledged last week that millions of vehicles worldwide were fitted with software aimed at evading emissions controls.
The financial toll is astounding. According to The Washington Post, Volkswagen may face billions of dollars in fines from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the company has set aside $7 billion to fix the cars affected as well as its reputation.
The WVU team's research is important, not only in a business sense but also as a reflection of having strong STEM education in the school system.
State leaders have been pushing STEM for some time, claiming the U.S. is falling behind in those areas compared to other countries. They press middle and high schools to focus on STEM-related curriculum and encourage colleges to expand research opportunities.
Increasing STEM education is an expensive endeavor, but as these researchers have shown it is sometimes well worth the price tag. Without the team's research, the public would be unaware of the company's dishonesty and the harmful level of carbon their vehicles emit.
It's not just catching falsification of data. More importantly, researchers at WVU and across West Virginia are discovering and sharing to the world new information about pulsars, quantum dots, nanoscale materials, gravitational interactions, geothermal energy and much more.
This information is, and will be, applied in creation of cancer treatments, energy development and better understanding of the world and universe.
Hats off to the WVU Center for Alternative Fuels and to researchers across the state for gaining and sharing knowledge.