Leadership
Center Director
Hongbin Yu, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering
Arizona State University
Ph.D. Physics, University of Texas-Austin, 2001
Tel: 480-965-4455
Email: [email protected]
Research Site: https://ugec.org/person/hongbin-yu/
Research interests
Areas of expertise include nanostructure and nano device fabrication and characterization; flexible, transparent, and wearable electronics; wide bandgap semiconductor electronic and optoelectronics; quantum size effect in metallic and semiconducting nanostructures; integrated microwave and power devices.
Key activities
Participated in the NSF Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) program, through funding from Semiconductor Research Corporation- an industry consortium consists of Intel Corporation, IBM, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Freescale, Texas Instruments and others. Served on the program committee of the 2016 INTERMAG/MMM Conference and the program committee of the 2016 International Workshop on Power System on Chip (PweSOC).
Industry Advisory Board Chair
Allan Yang, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist and Sustainability Officer
U-Haul International
Allan’s Bio
Dr. Allan Yang is the Chief Scientist and Sustainability Officer for U-Haul International. Since joining U-Haul in 2007, Allan has spearheaded the development and execution of the Company’s overall sustainability strategies, while researching and evaluating innovative sustainability initiatives for local field operations. Among his many accomplishments, he established the Corporate Sustainability department and the Corporate Energy and Carbon Management program for U-Haul, leading innovation and sustainability strategy alignment to the company’s commitment to sustainable and shared mobility.
With over two decades of professional, academic, and industrial experience, Allan has been a pioneering force at the forefront of sustainability and management. He currently serves as the Chair of the Industry Advisory Board of the National Science Foundation-Center for Efficient Vehicles and Sustainable Transportation Systems. In his pivotal role as Chief Scientist for U-Haul, Allan has been the guiding force behind groundbreaking research endeavors, collaborating with prestigious universities and DOE national laboratories across diverse areas ranging from sustainable transportation to energy, construction, and urban planning. He was appointed as a VIP sustainability expert of a delegation of mayors by the U.S. Department of State, representing the nation at the 2016 Climate Leaders Summit in Beijing.
Allan holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Design and Planning from Arizona State University. He also has a Bachelor and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration. Along with his degrees, Allan has a certificate for Corporate Social Responsibility from Harvard University.
Arizona State University Site Director
Raja Ayyanar, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering
Arizona State University
Ph.D. Power Electronics, University of Minnesota, 2000
Tel: (480)727-7307
Email: [email protected]
Research site: asu.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/raja-ayyanar
Research interests
Research interests include power electronics, DC-DC converters, power conversion and control for renewable energy, electric vehicles, motor drives, wide bandgap devices and applications.
Key activities
Published more than 180 papers and holds six U.S. patents. He is an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics. He is a past recipient of an ONR Young Investigator Award.
University of Alabama Site Director
Yang-Ki Hong, Ph.D.
E.A. “Larry” Drummond Endowed Chair
Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Director, Magnetic Materials & Device Laboratory
The University of Alabama
Ph.D. Metallurgy, University of Utah, 1981
Tel: 205-348-7268
Email: [email protected]
Research site:
Research interests
Areas of expertise include electromagnetics, magnetic materials, RF devices based on ferrites, power electronics based nanocrystalline amorphous soft magnetic materials, and electric motor based on rare-earth free permanent magnets.
Key activities
Serves as the departmental Graduate Program Director. Published more than 160 refereed journal papers and presented more than 200 papers at conferences and symposia. Hong has been awarded 21 patents and holds eight provisional patents.
University of Alabama Site Associate Director
Hwan-Sik Yoon, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, The University of Alabama
Ph.D., Ohio State University
Tel: 205-348-1136
Email: [email protected]
Research interests: Research interests include modeling, simulation, and control of dynamic systems, with focused efforts on vehicle powertrain systems, hybrid electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, and application of machine learning in automotive engineering.
Key activities
Leads the MOSAIC (Modeling, Simulation and Integrated Control) Lab, NSF Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award (2019).
University of Louisville Site Director
Sam Park, P.hD.
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
J.B. Speed School of Engineering
University of Louisville
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2007
Tel: 502-852-7786
Email: [email protected]
Research site: engineering.louisville.edu/faculty/sam-d-park/
Research interests
His research interests center on improving the understanding, design, and performance of electrochemical power and energy conversion devices including batteries, fuel cells, energy storage systems, and sensors. Also, energy storage materials and systems: flow batteries, sodium-ion batteries, and solid oxide batteries, thermal and mass transport in porous media and electrochemical energy conversion devices, In-situ stress study of solid state battery and solid oxide fuel cell, Battery and fuel cell health monitoring and electrochemical sensors, and 3D printing with ceramic materials and textile printing with plasma technology are other research interest areas.
Key activities
His current two projects for automotive engineering research is to develop sensors and algorithms for hybrid and electric vehicles. One project is to develop a Reliable Long-term Predictive Algorithm for Energy Storage Systems and Electric Vehicles Based on Real-time Data and Query Patterns and anther one is to develop a Lithium-ion Battery Health Monitoring Algorithm. He served on numerous international conference program committees. Professor Park is the author of over forty papers and three patents on fuel cells, batteries, energy systems, and sensors.
University of Louisville Site Associate Director
Glen Prater, Jr., Ph.D., P.E., ASME Fellow Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department J.B. Speed School of Engineering
University of Louisville
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 1988
Tel: 502-852-6560
Email: [email protected]
Research site:
Research interests
Research interests include innovative vehicle modeling and simulation techniques, development of vehicle-related undergraduate and graduate curricula, and mentoring of young engineers with an interest in automotive engineering.
Key activities
Former Mechanical Engineering Department Chair for 20 years, Prater is also the director of the Vehicle Architecture Research Laboratory, established in 2003. ASME Fellow, 2013, and member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Led the U.S. Army IMPACT (Improved Materials and Powertrain Architectures for 21st Century Trucks) project, that developed software tools, weight-saving design methodologies, and fabrication technology for applying high strength and ultra-high strength steel to commercial trucks.
University of Texas Site Director
Ronald D. Matthews, Ph.D., SAE Fellow
Professor, Carl J. Eckhard Fellow of Mechanical Engineering
Head, General Motors Foundation Engines and Automotive Research Labs
Mechanical Engineering Department, Cockrell School of Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX 78712-1140
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering (specialization in combustion), The University of California, Berkeley, 1977
Fellow, Society of Automotive Engineers
Tel: 512-626-7571
Email: [email protected]
Research site:
Research interests
Research interests include fuels, emissions control, the spark ignition process, and engine friction
Key activities
More than 30 years of research in combustion, engines, emissions, and alternative fuels. Established UT Austin’s combustion and engines research program; directs the General Motors Foundation Combustion Sciences and Automotive Research Labs; fellow of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and multi-SAE award winner – including the Arch T. Colwell Merit award recognizing his work on the first use of fractal geometry to model the combustion process within a spark ignition engine, and the Excellence in Engineering Education award
University of Texas Site Associate Director
Kara M. Kockelman, Ph.D., P.E.
Dewitt Greer Centennial Professor of Transportation Engineering
Department of Civil, Architectural & Environmental Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX 78712-1076
PhD., Civil Engineering, The University of California at Berkeley, 1998
Tel: 512-471-0210
Email: [email protected]
Research site: caee.utexas.edu/prof/kockelman
Research interests
Research interests include planning for electric, shared and autonomous vehicle systems; the statistical modeling of urban systems (including models of travel behavior, trade, and location choice); energy and climate issues (vis-à-vis transport and land use decisions); the economic impacts of transport policy; and crash occurrence and consequences.
Key activities
Author on more than 170 journal articles (and two books) across a variety of subjects, nearly all of which involve transportation-related data analysis. Recent honors and awards include serving as the North American Regional Science Council President, 2020; American Society of Civil Engineers Bechtel Energy Award, 2020; Vulog Top 20 in 2020 – Women in Mobility Award; Google Research Award, 2014; and University of Queensland Honorary Professor, 2018-2021.
