Current Students

Chris Birkbeck

Chris is a masters student in mechanical engineering. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Penn State. He’s from Tannersville, PA and enjoys watching and playing sports, especially hockey, in his free time and his favorite movie series is Star Wars.

Caleb Clark

S. Tawsif Islam

Pratikshya Mohanty (co-advised by Dr. Yuan Xuan)

Pratikshya started working at RFDL and CRFL labs in the Fall of 2022. She holds a master’s degree in Machine Design and Analysis from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical engineering from National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra (INDIA). Before joining Penn State, she worked for GE Vernova as an Edison Engineer and then in Combustion operability and design. Her current research is focused on fuel injector designs for gas turbines, hydrodynamic instabilities in complex flows and computational analysis of high-hydrogen flames. When she is not thinking about combustion science, she is usually gardening in the spring or curating music for her Spotify playlist.

Porter Richens (co-advised by Dr. Stephen Lynch)

Porter began working as a graduate student with RFDL in the summer of 2023 and is working on his masters in mechanical engineering. He graduated from Brigham Young University – Idaho with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering. His current work is focused on ceramic matrix composites in high-hydrogen combustion environments. In his free time he enjoys reading, playing racquetball, hiking, and spending time at home with his wife and dogs.

Javier Rodriguez Camacho

Javier started working as a graduate student with RFDL in Fall 2021. He is pursuing a PhD in the mechanical engineering program. He graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and worked on material science projects, specifically nanofabrication and ceramic nanoparticle reinforcements. His current work is focused on the impact of exhaust gas recirculation on the behavior and stability of combustion processes. During his free time, he enjoys playing video games, watching series, and relaxing (sleeping).

Alumni

Parvaneh Motiei – PhD 2024

Jennifer Colborn – PhD 2024

Sagar Jalui – PhD 2024

Renee Dorer – MS 2023

Erica Winegardner – MS 2022

Ashwini Karmarkar – PhD 2022

Daniel Doleiden – PhD 2022

Elana Herceg – MS 2022

Xiaoling Chen – PhD 2021

Casey Kracht – MS 2021

John Strollo – MS 2020

Seth Westfall – MS 2020

Kaylyn Beseler – MS 2019

Adam Howie – MS 2019

Ankit Tyagi – PhD 2019

Wyatt Culler – PhD 2018

Anand Makwana – PhD 2018

Matt Parmenteri – MS 2018

Andrew Church – MS 2017

Meghan Smith (Borz) – MS 2016

Sam Hansford – MS 2016

Nick Houghton – MS 2016