PEOPLE

Pingen Chen, Ph.D – Founding Director

Pingen Chen
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Office: Brown Hall 211, 115 W. 10th St., Cookeville TN, 38505
Contact information: Email: pchen@tntech.edu; Phone (office): 931-372-3310
Prof. Pingen Chen is currently a tenured Associate Professor with Mechanical Engineering Department at Tennessee Tech University and the founding director of Automotive Powertrain and Emissions Control Laboratory (APECL). Prof. Chen joined ME Department at Tennessee Tech as a tenure-track assistant professor in August 2016. Before that, he was a controls and diagnostics senior engineer at the Cummins Technical Center in Columbus, IN, for two years. He received the B.E. degree in Automotive Engineering from Jilin University, Changchun, China, in 2008. He received his M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University, Morgantown, in 2010, and Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University, Columbus, in 2014. Dr. Chen is the author or co-author of more than 83 peer-reviewed publications including 23 journal articles, 59 conference papers, and 1 patent. Dr. Chen’s research activities (in PI or Co-PI roles) have received more than 28-million funding from different sources including U.S. Department of Energy, Tennessee Department of Transportation, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Tennessee Tech University, Cummins Inc., Denso, and Nissan, and others. His research interests include 1) the modeling, control, and optimization of hybrid and electric vehicle systems, automated and connected vehicles, energy-efficient urban and rural mobility systems, battery energy storage system (first-life application, recycling and reuse), internal combustion engine, aftertreatment systems, and alternative/renewable fuels; 2) deployment of advanced vehicle technologies to serve the communities, particularly disadvantaged communities (DACs).
 
Postdoc Researcher

 – Zifei Su
Zifei Su received B.S. and Ph.D in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University in Fall 2019 and Summer 2024, respectively. Zifei is postdoc researcher in APECL at Tennessee Technological University with research interests in autonomous vehicle control and optimization, computer vision, and vehicle platooning, electric vehicle systems, second-life battery applications.

 
Ph.D. Students

 – Ethan Coffey

Ethan received B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and Master degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. Ethan is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University, while holding a full-time position as a research and development associate at ORNL.
 
– Maxavier D Lamantia
Maxavier (Max) received B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University in Fall 2019. Max is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University with research interests in electric and autonomous vehicle control and optimization.
 
– Cody Innis
Cody received B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University in Fall 2019. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University with research interests in modeling and control of connected and automated vehicles, and advanced engine control.
 
– Sachin Joshi
Sachin is a PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. He received both Bachelor degree and Master degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Tech University. His current research is focused on Diesel engine emission controls and hybrid electric vehicle controls.
 
– Sheng Liu
 
Sheng received B.S. in Vehicle Engineering from Chongqing University of Technology in June 2020 and master’s degree in Vehicle Engineering from Jiangsu University. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Tech with research interests in second-life battery application, mobile EV charging station, and electric vehicles.
 
 
 
 
 
– Magdy Abdullah Eissa
Magdy received B.S. and M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Helwan University, Egypt in 2012 and 2016, respectively. He also held research and teaching positions at Helwan University, University of Lisbon, and  KIOS Research and Innovation Centre of Excellence before joining Tennessee Tech. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Tech with research interests in data-driven control in automated and connected electric vehicles.
 
Master Students
 
– Tianzhang Wang
Tianzhang received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Donghua University in China. Tianzhang is currently a master student in APECL with research interests in the areas of EV battery recycling and reuse.
 
– Wenwen Xu
Wenwen received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Shanghai University in China. Wenwen is currently a master student in APECL with research interests in the areas of battery architecture design for second-life battery applications.
 
– Andrew Travis
Andrew received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University. Andrew is currently a master student in APECL with research interests in the areas of 2nd-life battery applications and mobile charging stations.
 
Undergraduate Students
– None
 
Lab Alumni
– Caleb Dunlab (M.S. degree in Fall 2024)
– Brandon Patel, M.S. Fall 2022 (joined Honda R&D Americas, LLC, after graduation)
– Yun Wu, M.S. Summer 2022 (Joined Volvo Group after graduation)
– Kuo Yang, PhD. Fall 2021 (Joined Southwest Research Institute as a senior research engineer after graduation)
– Devin Schafer, M.S. August 2021
– Tyler Qualls, M.S. August 2021
– Sachin Joshi,  M.S. August 2021 (Joined Tennessee Tech as a PhD student after graduation)
– Shuainan Yang, M.S. Spring 2021 (Joined Virginia Tech as a PhD student after graduation)
– Qinghua Lin, PhD. Spring 2020 (Joined CTS as a R&D engineer after graduation)
– Dakota Strange, M.S. Fall 2019
– Brandon Childress, M.S. Fall 2018