News and Media Relations contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-5616 or Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu
MURFREESBORO — MTSU’s
Dr. Charles Perry and his student-driven project team continue to gain national
and international acclaim.
On Nov. 17, Perry and his students were featured on the
national Fox News Channel. Perry is an MTSU professor and Russell Chair of
Manufacturing Excellence chair holder in the Department of Engineering
Technology.
A story by Fox Southeast reporter Elizabeth Prann and
videographer Cappy Cochran about the Perry team’s gas-saving, plug-in hybrid
wheel-hub motor retrofit project aired twice on Fox News Channel’s “America’s
News HQ.”
The piece was taped Oct. 9, but delayed for airing because
of the presidential election coverage and Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy. Perry
said he was pleased to know it finally would air, but has a forward-thinking
approach concerning its contents.
“I just hope it creates some funding,” Perry said. “I hope
it gets visibility and enthusiasm to get some funding.”
Perry said he and Tennessee Board of Regents university
counsel Lou Svendsen have been working for months to try and secure major
funding for the project, which has been shown to cut fuel usage by 50 to 100
percent in a 1994 Honda station wagon.
Prann said working on the story with Perry and MTSU graduate
students Jay Perry (no relation) and Brent Brubaker “was a great experience.”
“The folks at MTSU are very accommodating,” Prann said. “Dr.
Perry and his young team are a group of very bright individuals. It’s a story
our audience will really enjoy.”
Prann said she anticipates public reaction once the story
airs.
“We always get great reception on stories that involve
entrepreneurs and new inventions,” she said. “Also, I think our viewers will
enjoy seeing an American-made product.”
Charles Perry said he is apprehensive about the national and
online exposure because it likely will lead to emails and phone calls by the
general public wanting to purchase the kit. Presently, it is not available to
the public and it appears to be several years away from mass production.
While Prann was here in October working on the story, Perry
learned that she has a special affection for cars because her father, John R.
Prann Jr., has a passion and working knowledge about automobiles that he passed
down to her.
“I enjoy working on automobile-related stories because it
reminds me of him,” said Elizabeth Prann, who is married to Baltimore Orioles’
relief pitcher Darren O’Day.
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Photo captions:
Fox interviews Perry.jpg
Fox News Channel
Southeast reporter Elizabeth Prann, left, listens as MTSU’s Charles Perry
explains the battery process involved in the plug-in hybrid retrofit kit
project. (File photo by MTSU News and Media Relations)
Prann checks camera.jpg
Fox News Channel
Southeast reporter Elizabeth Prann checks the image on the video camera before
interviewing MTSU graduate student Brent Brubaker. (File photo by MTSU News and
Media Relations)
Jay Perry.jpg
Fox News Channel
Southeast videographer Cappy Cochran films B-roll footage of MTSU graduate student Jay Perry working with
the wheel-hub motor retrofit kit. (File photo by MTSU News and Media Relations)
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visit www.MTSUNews.com.
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