Student Challenge Teams
Georgia Institute of Technology
Academic Sponsor: Dr. Sourabh Saha
Vidhukiran Venkataraman, B.E(Hons.) Mechanical Engineering, minor in Materials Science. First year Doctoral student. Scalable Technologies for Advanced Manufacturing (STEAM) laboratory
Georgia Institute of Technology
Suvrat Jain is an undergraduate student aiming for bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. Suvrat works at the STEAM research lab with three other graduate student and Dr. Saha. Suvrat’s work is focused on motion control of nano-scale 3D printers. Apart from academics, Suvrat likes to weightlift, cook and go out with friends.
Harnjoo Kim received a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech in 2019. He is currently enrolled in a Ph.D. mechanical engineering program in the same institution with focus on nano/microscale additive manufacturing research.
Jungho Choi is a Mechanical Engineering Student at Georgia Institute of Technology. Jungho’s undergraduate degree graduation date is May 2019, and graduate degree graduation date is May 2023 (expected). Jungho’s main interest area is Design and Manufacturing.
Navajo Technical University
Academic Sponsor: Dr. Peter Romine
Seth Dennison
Victoria Charley is an Electrical Engineering Student Senior with a concentration in Power and Energy at Navajo Technical University located in Crownpoint, NM. Victoria currently works in the health field at a local hospital and is completing a summer internship at Sandia National Laboratories in the Concentrating Solar Power department. She has competed in the ASPE Student Challenge for the past three years and has a compassion for recycling and reusing products and would like to one day work in the Renewable Energy field.
Roshonda Shurley is Native American and is from the Navajo Tribe. She is currently an undergraduate student at Navajo Technical University in Crownpoint, New Mexico. She is pursing her Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering with a concentration of Computer Science. She has received her Associates of Science degree in Pre-Engineering and certificate of Computer Aided Drafting and Design at Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute.
Shaquille Cohoe is currently a senior in Electrical Engineering at Navajo Technical University with a concentration in Computer science. He has worked with many student events such as ASPE 2019 and 2020, Mittic 2020 and 2021, L’Space academy 2021, and NTU Maker Faire 2019. Shaquille Would love to pursue a master degree after graduation from Navajo Technical University.
shaquille.cohoe@student.navajotech.edu
Hello my name is Malorie McKerry. I’m Native American from the Navajo reservation. I’m a junior at Navajo Technical College obtaining my Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering.
Texas A&M University
Academic Sponsor: Dr. ChaBum Lee
Zhikun Wang
Xiangyu Guo received her Master degree in Optical Sciences from University of Arizona and now is working in the Precision Sensors and Instrumentation lab (PSIG) in Mechanical Engineering from the Texas A&M University. Her research is focused on the surface and machine tool inspection based on machine vision. Outside of research, Xiangyu works with the Mechanical Engineering Female Grad Students (MEFEGs) to build up a supportive and collaborative community among the women grad students and is an amateur painter.
Pengfei Lin received a bachelor degree in mechanical engineering from Xi’an Jiaotong University and master degree in mechanical manufacture and automation from China Academy of Engineering Physics. Pengfei is currently a PhD student in the mechanical engineering department, Texas A&M University.
Heebum Chun joined the Precision Sensors and Instrumentation (PSI) Lab at Texas A&M University in 2019 and received his M.S in Mechanical Engineering in 2020. Heebum is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree under Dr. ChaBum Lee’s supervision, and his research interests are precision mechatronics, controls, manufacturing, and metrology. He is trying to seek any possible approaches to solve the current manufacturing problems and to create new manufacturing methods and processes to go beyond limits.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Academic Sponsor: Dr. Shih-Chi Chen
Yintao WANG
Qi SHAO
Zezhi TIAN
Wenqi OUYANG is a year-4 Ph.D. student in the department of mechanical and automation Engineering in CUHK, supervised by Professor Shih-Chi CHEN. She is a recipient of the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Award (2018). She received her B.E. degree in the department of precision instrument, Tsinghua University, in 2018. Currently, her research focuses on ultrafast laser fabrication and 3-D prinitng.
The University of Arizona
Academic Sponsor: Dr. Brandon Chalifoux
Henry Quach
Marcos Esparza is a PhD student at the University of Arizona College of Optics. He works in the Large Optics Fabrication and Testing Lab (LOFT) and has a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. His research consists of novel optomechanical alignment methods for segmented lenses and deformable reflector design for radio observatories.
Hayden Wisniewski is a 4th year PhD candidate in the Chalifoux Lab at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S. in Physics from Whitworth University in 2018 and his M.S. in Optical Sciences from the University of Arizona in 2020. His research includes experimental and numerical extensions of optical metrology methods to the surface of X-ray telescope mirrors. Previous research includes developing optomechanical lasers for gravimetric sensing. When not in lab, Hayden can be found riding his off-road motorcycle and mountain bike, rock climbing, and flying small planes.
Kevin Laverty
Trenton J. Brendel received his B.A. in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley in 2017 and anticipates completion of his Ph.D. in Optical Sciences at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences in 2023. Advised by Dr. Daewook Kim, principal investigator of the Large Optics Fabrication and Testing Group, Trenton’s research focuses on optical design of astronomical instrumentation, stray light analysis and mitigation for astronomical observatories, and optical metrology of large optical systems. Beyond his research, Trenton is an avid cyclist, an amateur audiophile, and a recovering collegiate distance runner.
The University of Texas at Austin
Academic Sponsors: Dr. Michael Cullinan & Dr. Lei Zhou
Ian Heyman is currently a second-year graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). He is working in the Precision Mechatronics and Controls Lab, where his research project is on the design and control of magnetically-levitated nanopositioning stages. Ian received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UT-Austin in 2020. During his undergraduate studies, he focused his course load in the area of Manufacturing and Design and worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant for the machine tool operations course at UT-Austin. Outside of the lab, Ian enjoys listening to and playing music, spending time with friends, and exploring Austin.
Jingjie Wu
Laura Homiller
Barbara Groh is from Miami, Florida and completed a BSE in Mechanical Engineering at Duke University. Barbara is currently attending the University of Texas at Austin conducting graduate research in the Cullinan lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Barbara’s research focus is on in-line metrology for roll-to-roll nanomanufacturing.
The University of Western Ontario
Academic Sponsors: Dr. Ovidiu-Remus Tutunea-Fatan & Dr. Evgueni Bordatchev
Otoniel Fernandes Rangel is a Master of Enginneering Science student at the University of Western Ontario whose work is focused on microfabrication and practical applications of V-grooves. His research is rooted in creating cutting strategies to optimize the fabricaiton process of V-grooves. Namely, investigating how cutting parameters (depth of cut, cutting speed, etc) influence the cutting force, burr formation, and practical application in open capillary channels and hydrophobic surfaces.
Jonas Churchill-Baird has received his Bachelors of Engineering Science in Mechanical and Materials Engineering at the University of Western Ontario in 2021. He is currently in the process of obtaining his Masters of Engineering Science in Mechanical co-supervised by Dr. Tutunea-Fatan from the University of Western Ontario and Dr. Bordatchev from the National Research Council of Canada. Jonas research is within the field of micromachining, mainly focusing on the application of functionality to a surface, specifically V-grooves/micro-riblets fabrication. During his undergraduate years, Jonas was the suspension lead for Western’s Baja SAE club. He was also the director of marketing for Westerns Students Fight Parkinson’s Club.
Long Zhuang is currently a 3rd year undergraduate student pursuing B.E.Sc in the Mechatronic Engineering program at University of Western Ontario. Long received the Dean’s award to work as a summer research intern with the Laser Polishing AI Team under the supervision of Dr Ovidiu Remus and Dr Evgueni. Long’s project focuses on analyzing data of laser remelting line and studying applications of deep leaning model in laser polishing.
Xiaoyuan (Belinda) Sang is a fourth year student, studying Computer Science and Mechanical and Materials Engineering program at The University of Western Ontario.
Honghe (Richard) Wu is an Engineering undergraduate student from The Univeristy of Western Ontario. Currently working as an Co-op student researcher at the National Research Council of Canada on laser manufacturing technologies.
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Academic Sponsor: Dr. Edward P. Morse
Jesse Redford
Dhanooj Bobba
Vy Tran