Pennsylvania State University

team members

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  Hugo McMenamin

  Team Leader

  

  Hugo McMenamin

  Team Leader

  
  

  Hugo McMenamin received his Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Bucknell University. He focused on vehicle dynamics and robotics and graduated with Latin honors before coming to Penn State to complete his masters. McMenamin has extensive knowledge in Matlab, Simulink and in using modeling software to perform simulations.

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  Rohan Prabhu

  Project Manager

  

  Rohan Prabhu

  Project Manager

  
  

  Rohan Prabhu is a first-year graduate student studying mechanical engineering in Engineering Design. He is currently focused on consumer focused products development and product management. He received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from The National Institute of Technology Karnataka. Rohan has experience working on the NITK Baja Racing team in his undergraduate years.

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  Lauren Kokoskie

  Communications Manager

  

  Lauren Kokoskie

  Communications Manager

  
  

  Lauren Kokoskie is a senior majoring in public relations with a minor in German. This is her first year on the team, but she believes she already has gained valuable experience. She has a strong interest in creative campaigns and hopes to work for a public relations firm after college. Other than EcoCar3, Lauren is involved with The Penn State Dance Marathon (THON), Sigma Delta Tau sorority, and Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA).

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  Partha Mishra

  Engineering Manager

  

  Partha Mishra

  Engineering Manager

  
  

  Partha Mishra is a doctoral student in Mechanical Engineering Department, working with Dr. Hosam K. Fathy as his Ph.D. guide. For his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering, Mishra investigated measurement uncertainties in emissions measurement from heavy duty vehicles. You can contact Partha at ppm114@psu.edu.

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  Darren O’Connor

  System Modeling and Simulation Department Head

  

  Darren O’Connor

  System Modeling and Simulation Department Head

  
  

  Darren is a senior in mechanical engineering with a minor in engineering mechanics. He gained manufacturing and leadership experience through his co-op at Seagrave Fire Apparatus. O'Connor has knowledge of MATLAB and previous racing experience that will be useful for vehicle optimization and testing.

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  Karthik Pillutla

  Safety Head

  

  Karthik Pillutla

  Safety Head

  
  

  Karthik Pillutla is a Senior in electrical engineering, and is rounding out his third year on the team as a member of the control algorithm department. Karthik has been interested in electric and hybrid vehicles since his first year of high school, when he joined his schools electric car club. He competed with that vehicle at Penn State, where he met students in the ChallengeX team that were presented about the hybrid SUV that they had just finished building. Since then, Karthik has built his own electric bicycle to get around campus, and joined the Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team his Sophomore year of college. He plans on building a career in the automotive industry, and wants to be a part of the change in how people move from point A to point B. Outside of PSU AVT, Karthik is also in an a capella group on campus called the Statesmen.

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  Hanna Scanlon

  Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head

  

  Hanna Scanlon

  Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head

  
  

  
  Hanna is a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. She has two summers of electrical experience with an electric utility, as well as growing knowledge of mechatronics. This is her first year with the EcoCar competition, but muscle cars have long been an interest. Other involvement includes ASME and flag football.

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  Chris Briley

  Mechanical Engineering Department Head

  

  Chris Briley

  Mechanical Engineering Department Head

  
  

  Chris Briley is a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. Although this is his first year with the EcoCar team, he was involved with the Darien High School Fuel Cell Team in high school. The team worked to design and build a vehicle to compete in the Shell Eco Marathon. Chris has also had experience in manufacturing through his internship at ArcelorMittal.

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  Andrew Ruf

  Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Department Head

  

  Andrew Ruf

  Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Department Head

  
  

  Andrew Ruf is a junior studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, specializing in computer system design and implementation. He has experience in a variety of different programming languages including C/C++, Java, C# and Python. Andrew joined the ADAS team during the second year of the competition, bringing valuable experience from the year two ADAS activities with him into the third year of EcoCAR3.

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  Dule Shu

  Innovations Manager

  

  Dule Shu

  Innovations Manager

  
  

  Dule Shu received his Bachelor's degree in automation from Harbin Institute of Technology, China. He is currently working towards a doctoral degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Penn State. Shu's research interest covers several branches of control theory. In EcoCAR 3, he works on collision avoidance algorithm for the Penn State Advanced Vehicle Team.

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  Gary Neal

  Faculty Advisor

  

  Gary Neal

  Faculty Advisor

  
  

  Gary Neal is a research engineer and department head with the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University. As part of his duties as a mechanical engineer, Gary’s two main areas during his 12 year tenure at the Lab have been drivetrain technology and underwater weapons systems. Gary is the Department Head of the Systems Development and Engineering Department and an Adjunct Professor in the Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering Department at Penn State. You can contact him at gln103@psu.edu.

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  Dr Sean Brennan

  Faculty Advisor

  

  Dr Sean Brennan

  Faculty Advisor

  
  

  Dr. Sean Brennan is an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Penn State. He has a wide range of research interests including dynamic systems and control with application to automotive systems, robotics, biological sensing and mechatronics. Brennan is the Director of the Vehicle System and Safety Program at the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, Director of the Intelligent Vehicles and Systems Group and a member of ASME, IEEE, and ASEE. You can contact him at sbrennan@psu.edu.

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  Dr Hosam Fathy

  Faculty Advisor

  

  Dr Hosam Fathy

  Faculty Advisor

  
  

  Dr. Hosam Fathy is an associate professor of mechanical engineering in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering at Penn State. He has a wide range of research interests including optimal control, model reduction, system identification and identifiability, electrochemical battery modeling, identification, and control, and hybrid electric vehicle design and control optimization. Fathy is also the director of the Control Optimization Laboratory. You can contact him at hkf2@psu.edu.

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  Dr Denise Bortree

  Faculty Advisor

  

  Dr Denise Bortree

  Faculty Advisor

  
  

  Dr. Denise Bortree is an associate professor in the Department of Advertising/Public Relations at Penn State. She brings more than 10 years of practical experience to her teaching, including positions as communication manager, public relations manager and marketing manager for a number of organizations. Dr. Bortree researches and writes on sustainability communication. She is the director of the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication housed in the College of Communications. You can contact her at dsb177@psu.edu.

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  Dr Lee Ahern

  Faculty Advisor

  

  Dr Lee Ahern

  Faculty Advisor

  
  

  Dr. Lee Ahern is an Associate Professor of Advertising and Public Relations at Penn State University. His area of expertise, and primary contribution to grant-funded research, includes evaluation, measurement, analysis and interpretation of science communications campaigns. Dr. Ahern is current chair of the International Environmental Communication Association (www.theieca.org) and past head of the Communication Science, Health, Environment and Risk Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.You can contact him at laa182@psu.edu.

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  Dr Constantino M Lagoa

  Faculty Advisor

  

  Dr Constantino M Lagoa

  Faculty Advisor

  
  

  Dr. Constantino M. Lagoa received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Instituto Superior Tecnico, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal in 1991 and 1994, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1998. He joined Penn State's Electrical Engineering Department in August 1998 and is currently a professor. He has a wide range of research interests including robust optimization and control, chance constrained optimization, controller design under risk specifications, system identification, control of computer networks and discrete event dynamical systems. Lagoa is currently the Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control and Automatica. He is also a member of the IFAC Technical Committee on Robust Control and has served as a member of the international program committee of several conferences.

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  Timothy Cleary

  Faculty Advisor

  

  Timothy Cleary

  Faculty Advisor

  
  

  Timothy Cleary is a research associate at Penn State’s Larson Transportation Institute, the director of the Battery Application Technology Testing & Energy Research Laboratory (BATTERY) and also affiliated with Battery and Energy Storage Technology (BEST). His research encompasses a range of automotive topics, such as modeling, simulation and embedded controls centering around systems integration including electrical energy storage and Hardware-in-the-Loop testing. You can contact him at tdc142@psu.edu

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  Eric Reischer

  Technical Advisor

  

  Eric Reischer

  Technical Advisor

  
  

  Eric Reischer is a research engineer at the Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University. His primary research area is physics-based modeling and simulation of acoustics and hydrodynamics of undersea vehicles. Reischer is an alumnus of the 2002-2004 Advanced Vehicle Team and has been a technical advisor to the team ever since.

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  Ryan Noss

  Technical Advisor

  

  Ryan Noss

  Technical Advisor

  
  

  Ryan Noss is an R&D engineer at Penn State. Ryan previously worked for Jacobs Vehicle Systems as an R&D engineer developing engine braking systems and variable valve timing systems for diesel engines. Noss graduated from Penn State with his M.S. and B.S. in mechanical engineering, and, as a student, Ryan served as a group leader and as a team leader during the FutureTruck competitions. Ryan leverages his technical knowledge from both academia and industry to serve as a technical advisor to the team on powertrain related matters.