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. 

More info...

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: 
Optimal Control of Hypersonic Vehicles (co-advised with Puneet Singla)
aft5212 (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...
Jonah Glunt
Degree in Progress: 
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering 
Expected Graduation Date: 
May 2024
Research Topic: 
Autonomous Vehicle Planning and Control
 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.

Adim Seeler
Degree in Progress: 
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering 
Expected Graduation Date: 
May 2024
Research Topic: 
Modeling and Optimization of Unmanned Vehicles
 aas6086 (at) psu (dot) edu
  LinkedIn
More info...
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: 
Hybrid-electric Testbed and Predictive Controls
 jas9615 (at) psu (dot) edu
More info...

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.

Joseph Broniszewski
Degree in Progress: 
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 
Expected Graduation Date: 
December 2023
Research Topic: 
Use of Phase-change Materials for Thermal Management
jpb6292 (at) psu (dot) edu
  LinkedIn
Bhavya Jain
Degree in Progress: 
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 
Expected Graduation Date: 
May 2024
Research Topic: 
Reconfigurable Testbed for Single phase Thermal Management
bpj5164 (at) psu (dot) edu
  LinkedIn
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
Courtney Proulx
Degree in Progress: 
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering 
Expected Graduation Date: 
May 2025
Research Topic: 
Hybrid-electric Testbed Development

Post-dogs

Henry Pangborn
Research Topic: 
Trajectory Optimization for Pursuit-Evasion Games Involving High-elasticity Spheres
(i.e., fetch with tennis balls)

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