Alumni
See the alumni list here.
Faculty
Herschel C. Pangborn, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Herschel Pangborn joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State in January 2020. His research focuses on the dynamic modeling, design, and control of energy systems. Before earning his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2019, he received a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State in 2013 and an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Illinois in 2015. During the second half of 2019, he was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Illinois. In 2020, he was an Air Force Research Lab Summer Faculty Fellow. Dr. Pangborn is a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, the University of Illinois MechSE Graduate Teaching Fellowship, and the ASME Energy Systems Technical Committee Best Paper Award.
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Ph.D. Students
The PAC Lab is often seeking graduate students to join our team. Successful candidates should be self-motivated, curious, hard-working, and have a record of academic achievement. Please see the "join" page for more information about how to apply.
Seho Park
Degree in Progress:
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
Research Topic:
Power and Thermal Management of Electrified Vehicles
sehopark (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...
Andrew Thompson
Degree in Progress:
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
Research Topic:
Energy-aware Autonomy
aft5212 (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...
Jonah Glunt
Degree in Progress:
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
Research Topic:
Reachability Analysis Using Hybrid Zonotopes
jjg57 (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...
Joshua Robbins
Degree in Progress:
Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
Research Topic:
Path Planning, Control, and Estimation for Autonomous Vehicles
jar653 (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...
M.S. Students
The PAC Lab is often seeking graduate students to join our team. Successful candidates should be self-motivated, curious, hard-working, and have a record of academic achievement. Please see the "join" page for more information about how to apply.
Michael Williams
Degree in Progress:
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2025
Research Topic:
Modeling and Optimization of Advanced Thermal Cycles for Sustainable Aviation
maw6801 (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...
Jacob Sichlau
Degree in Progress:
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2025
Research Topic:
Microgrid Energy Management
jas9615 (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...
Sarah Chekan
Degree in Progress:
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2026
Research Topic:
Modeling and System-level Control of Renewable-integrated Microgrids.
sac6274 (at) psu (dot) edu
LinkedIn
More info...
Ben Hudson
Degree in Progress:
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2026
Research Topic:
Modeling and Optimization of Unmanned Underwater Vehicles
bjh6298 (at) psu (dot) edu
Alex Haefner
Degree in Progress:
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2026
Research Topic:
Modeling and Control of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
ach5681 (at) psu (dot) edu
Undergraduate Students
The PAC Lab is often seeking undergraduate students to join our team, including but not limited to Schreyer Honors Scholars interested in completing their honors thesis on a topic relevant to our research areas. Please see the "join" page for more information about how to apply.
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Kaelea Hayes
Degree in Progress:
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2025
Research Topic:
-Modeling and Analysis of an Elastocaloric Cooling Shape Memory Alloy Device
-Autonomous Vehicle Control and Path Planning
Courtney Proulx
Degree in Progress:
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2025
Research Topic:
Hybrid-electric Testbed Development
Liam McIntyre
Degree in Progress:
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2026
Research Topic:
Autonomous Vehicle Control and Path Planning
LinkedIn
Rejat Krishnan
Degree in Progress:
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering
Expected Graduation Date:
May 2028
Research Topic:
Autonomous Vehicle Control and Path Planning
LinkedIn
Post-dogs
Henry Pangborn
Research Topic:
Trajectory Optimization for Pursuit-Evasion Games Involving High-elasticity Spheres
(i.e., fetch with tennis balls)
