Current Students

Member since 2024

Gared is a PhD student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and a Graduate Research Assistant in the Solar FTL. He obtained his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and his MS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech with a thesis on simulated solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine cogeneration systems. His current research focuses on the development and characterization of materials for solar-driven syngas production.

Member since 2024

Jennifer is a PhD student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and a Graduate Research Assistant in the Solar FTL. She graduated with her MS in Mechanical Engineering from Andong National University where she was a Graduate Research Assistant in the Gas Dynamics Lab. She is working in under the guidance of Dr. Peter Loutzenhiser, and she is collaborating with the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory as a part of the NASA’s CLEVER Project.

Member since 2019

Tyler is a PhD student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and a Graduate Research Assistant in the Solar FTL. He received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2019. Prior to joining the Solar FTL, Tyler worked as an Undergraduate Research Assistant for 3 years on various projects, including his most recent work which was to develop a tethered coaxial ocean current turbine array system to be deployed in the gulf stream. His current research focuses on investigation and characterization of materials for Thermochemical Energy Storage.

Member since 2012

Robby is a PhD candidate in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. He received a BS in Engineering – Mechanical Specialty and a minor in Public Affairs from Colorado School of Mines. He received a MS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2015. Previously, Robby served as the business director of The Oredigger, Mine’s student newspaper, and as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Solar FTL, Robby’s research involves modeling fundamental reaction behavior of rapidly-reacting reduction-oxidation (redox) active materials for the storage of concentrated solar energy.

Member since 2020

Shaspreet is a PhD student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. She received her BS in Mechanical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University in 2019. She is bonded and sponsored by an oil and gas company from Malaysia, Petronas, to pursue her graduate studies in Georgia Tech. Prior to Georgia Tech, she interned with Viscosity Oil Company in Chicago, where she gained valuable knowledge in Supply Chain Management.

Member since 2022

Matthew is a master’s student and Graduate Research Assistant in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and Georgia Tech Research Institute. He is co-advised by Drs. Comas Haynes and Peter Loutzenhiser. He graduated with his BS in Mechanical Engineering in 2021 from Louisiana Tech University. Here at Georgia Tech, in partnership with Dr. Juan Ordóñez’ group at Florida Agriculture Mechanical University, Matthew’s research focuses on the development of thermal storage strategies for the dynamic operation of concentrated solar power systems that rely on particle thermal energy storage systems.

Member since 2019

Nhu “Ty” Nguyen is a PhD student and Graduate Research Assistant in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering. Ty received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University in 2019 where she was the President of Tufts Collegiate Chapter of ASME. She was also given the Vincent Manno Leadership Award from Tufts University and Charles T. Main Honorable Mention from ASME. Prior to joining Solar FTL, she was an undergraduate researcher at Tufts Body Flow Lab. Ty’s research at Solar FTL focuses on investigating and characterizing materials for Thermochemical Energy Storage (TCES).

Member since 2023

Yuming is a PhD student in the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering co-advised by Dr. Peter Loutzenhiser and Dr. Devesh Ranjan. She received a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a BS in Statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2019. She earned her MEng in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 2020. Prior to joining Solar FTL, she was a graduate researcher at Cornell University in the Energy and the Environment Research Lab and the Bio-inspired Fluid Lab. Her current research is focused on studying particle properties and granular flows at elevated temperature for solar thermal energy storage integrated into particle-based concentrated solar power applications.