Ashley Shaffer

Ashley Shaffer’s path to Purdue AI Racing began with a middle-school decision to become an engineer. After completing an Engineering degree with an electrical engineering concentration at Wartburg College, she set her sights on graduate work at Purdue. “My advisor, Dr. Shreyas Sundaram, was one of the individuals who introduced this project,” she explains. Although “I was a little hesitant at first because I was not big into racing,” the project’s uniqueness won her over: “At the end of the day, this is an incredibly unique experience, and I am glad that I was recruited. I also enjoy watching races now, so this project will indoctrinate you.”

Today Shaffer leads the planning team, devising overtaking strategies and the algorithms that execute them while coordinating with faculty advisors and subsystem leads. Classwork feeds directly into new ideas for the car, and real-world feedback from Purdue AI Racing “only improves my academic experience,” she says. Looking ahead, Shaffer envisions physical AI transforming competition and daily life alike: autonomous racers may never replace humans entirely, “but the idea that we can introduce a whole new realm of competition with AI vs. human is fascinating,” and she has “no doubt that AI will be a part of our future.”