Colorado State University is one of four universities nationwide that will receive four all-electric micro vehicles that will help drive sustainable transportation research projects on campus - through the Internet.

CSU, University of Pittsburgh, University of Washington and the University Wisconsin were selected to receive the University Electric Vehicles - the Innova Dash - from Internet2 and Innova UEV LLC, the vehicle's manufacturer, in August.

The zippy little cars will be used in two ongoing research projects at CSU: A grant from the Electric Power Research Institute to analyze data collected from plug-in electric vehicles, including how people are charging them, how far they venture from campus, how much traffic, parking, etc., is displaced by these vehicles; and educational outreach to local K-12 students funded by Bohemian Foundation.

"Colorado State has an outstanding history of research and engagement in not only the field of electrified transportation but also in improving the sustainability of the University community," said Patrick Burns, vice president for IT at Colorado State.

"All eight of our colleges and more than 75 percent of CSU faculty are engaged in sustainability-related research, and this year, the University achieved the highest score ever reported to STARS - the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Reporting System - that includes universities across the country. This project fits nicely with our goal of creating a more sustainable campus by quantifying the benefits of electric vehicle use."

CSU has already installed charging stations for six electric vehicles on campus, with plans to expand that capacity to 10 by August. The University is also an active participant in Drive Electric Northern Colorado, which is committed to greater deployment of electric cars throughout the region, and a platinum member of the City of Fort Collins' ClimateWise program.

"With the Innova vehicles in the University motor pool, campus employees will have the opportunity to choose a unique and innovative vehicle option when they need to make off-campus trips," said Scott Baily, director of Academic Computing and Networking Services, who is a principal investigator on the Innova project.

"We are really excited about this opportunity to exploit CSU's exceptional commitment to sustainability, research, and technology. We can capitalize on established research techniques to monitor, store and analyze vehicle performance data; accelerate our goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050; and explore the nuances of integrating electric vehicles into the daily lives of faculty, staff and students."

The UEVs will be equipped with a tablet-sized personal computer controlling the electronics and advanced technologies. The UEVs will connect automatically to the CSU computer network through the on-campus Wi-Fi network to communicate operational data, such as position, speed and battery charge.

A mobile application will let UEV users know if a vehicle is available, where it is and where it will be, just by entering their campus identification and password provided by Internet2's InCommon service. They can log in, reserve, activate vehicle use and provide comments on the vehicle's performance and utility, allowing researchers to collect, transfer, store and analyze robust sensor data from the vehicle.

"We are excited about these four campuses that are regional leaders in sustainability using these electric vehicles to enhance research, adopt advanced technologies, and enhance campus carbon footprint reductions," said Steve Wolff, Internet2 interim chief technology officer.

"As more devices are connected to each other via the Internet and provide data that helps us make thoughtful decisions, it's key that the Internet2 research and education community is at the cutting-edge of the technology and opportunities. We look forward to learning the results from these 'Internet of Things' research projects and hearing, what's next."

The "Internet of Things" allows "smart" objects to sense and communicate about their environment through embedded technology. At the conclusion of the projects, all aggregated data will become anonymous and publicly available for any researcher.

"It's very special for our organization to work with these four major research campuses and Internet2's research and education community to discover new applications to address sustainability, while leveraging the Internet2 Network and services to advance research," said Roman Kuropas, Innova chief executive officer and UEV founder.