Congressman Fattah, NASA Chief Technologist Will Visit Hybrid X Team at West Philadelphia High School

PHILADELPHIA, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Chief Technologist, at the invitation of Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), will meet the engineers and innovators of tomorrow in an extraordinary visit to the West Philly Hybrid X Team at West Philadelphia High School on Monday June 7 at 3 p.m.

Building the next generation of automobiles today, these bright students are poised to be the future of space engineering as well. The prize-winning West Philly Hybrid X Team, under the direction of Simon Hauger, has drawn international recognition as the only high school among 22 finalists in a $10 million competition to develop cars that achieve over 100 miles per gallon.

"We may not put a Hybrid X Car on Mars, but the scientists, engineers and innovators who will accomplish the next great feats in space travel could well be drawn from these talented and remarkable young men and women at West Philly High who have achieved so much with so little," said Rep. Fattah, a longtime advocate for the Hybrid X Team.

Team director Simon Hauger said his students are excited about the NASA visit. Hauger explained, "We have built two cars utilizing off-the-shelf technology to highlight what high school students can do, when given the opportunity. We tell people that what we do is not rocket science. Having NASA's head technologist – who actually is a rocket scientist - interested in our students' work is amazing."

Congressman Fattah added, "I am pleased to be bringing the leading technology official from our nation's premier science and technology agency to West Philadelphia to inspect the Hybrid X Team's work. He will have an opportunity to inspire these future engineers and scientists to reach even higher, and to be inspired himself by what is possible when our underserved students are given the opportunity to achieve.

"The more we invest in robotics, technology and engineering instruction the more our young people can accomplish," Fattah said. "The ingenuity of these young people and their leaders – buying literally off-the-shelf and used materials on a low budget - knows no ceiling. So it's appropriate for them to share their story with the federal agency that explores the heavens."

Congressman Fattah is chairman of the Congressional Urban Caucus and Pennsylvania's senior member on the House Appropriations Committee, including its subcommittee that oversees NASA spending.

Dr. Braun, as NASA's Chief Technologist, serves as the principal advisor and advocate on matters concerning agency-wide technology policy and programs at the space agency. NASA maintains an on-going interest in student teams, private companies of all sizes and citizen-inventors who develop creative solutions and innovation for technical problem solving.

The Hybrid X Team moves to the "knockout phase" of the $10 million Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize (PIAXP) competition from June 20 to 30 at Michigan International Speedway. The team has designed two cars, the EVX Focus, a four passenger gas/biobutanol electric hybrid and the EVX GT, a two passenger bio-diesel electric hybrid.

SOURCE Office of Congressman Chaka Fattah