Our team

Email: cdrahn@engr.psu.edu
Faculty page: MNE Faculty Profile

Christopher D. Rahn
Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Christopher D. Rahn received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1985 and a M.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 1986. He worked for three years as a Research and Development Engineer in spacecraft attitude dynamics and control at Ford Aerospace in Palo Alto, CA. He then returned to Berkeley, receiving a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering in 1992. Dr. Rahn was a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Clemson University from 1992 to 2000 where he co-directed the Robotics and Mechatronics Laboratory and focused his research on the development and experimental validation of control systems for distributed vibration and noise and nonlinear models of high-speed textile manufacturing processes. In 2000, Dr. Rahn joined The Pennsylvania State University where he is currently a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Director of the Mechatronics Research Laboratory, and co-director of the Battery and Energy Storage Technology Center. His research in the modeling, analysis, design, and control of mechatronic systems has been supported by ONR, AFOSR, Army, DARPA, NSF, DOE, NIH, ARPA-E and industry and garnered the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, Board of Trustees Award for Faculty Excellence, McQueen Quattlebaum Faculty Achievement Award, the PSES Outstanding Research Award, an ASME Best Paper Award, and the PSEAS Premier Research Award. He has published two books, over two hundred refereed publications, and several patents. A Fellow of ASME, Dr. Rahn has served as an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control and the ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, chaired the ASME Technical Committee on Vibration and Sound, and served on the Executive Committee of the ASME Design Engineering Division. Dr. Rahn has also been a technical consultant and expert witness on several patent cases.

Changik Cho, Ph.D. student B.S., M.S. in Mechanical Engineering Sungkyunkwan University, '19 Project1: Wing vibrations of electric Vertically Takeoff and Landing(eVTOL) aircraft Co-advisor: Dr. Edward C. Smith Project2: Improving nonuniform utilization in Li battery with calendering process Email: cmc7589@psu.edu	Shuhua Shan, Ph.D. student B.E, Department of Mechanical Engineering Dalian University of Technology, China '18 Project: Multifunctional NCM-Si battery project Co-advisor: Dr. Donghai Wang Email: sxs2472@psu.edu
Kiran Bhaskar, Ph.D. student B.S., M.S. in Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, India '19 Project: Anomaly detection in battery systems Email: kxb5761@psu.edu	Mohammadreza Shariatmadari, Ph.D. student M.Sc. Southern Illinois University, '21 Project: State of health prediction of batteries Email: shariatmadari@psu.edu
Nitisha Ahuja, Ph.D. student B.S., M.S. in Mechanical Engineering Michigan Technological University '18 Project: Development of fully open source toolset for optimizing Energy Storage and Power systems Email: nqa5412@psu.edu	Jihoon Moon, Ph.D. student M.S. in Mechanical Engineering Texas Technological University '22 Project: Fault Diagnostics in Lithium-Ion Battery Packs with Stranded Energy Email: jihoonmoon@psu.edu
Yeon-Joon Ko, Ph.D. student B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Sungkyunkwan University, '23 Project: Zn Battery Email: yqk5286@psu.edu
Alumni
Xiaokun Ma, Ph.D. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Tsinghua University, '12 Project: Designing Optimized Mechanical Structures for Body-Based Piezoelectric Harvesting Email: xum104@psu.edu	Shawn Treacy, Ph.D. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Kettering University, '11 Project: Flutter Stability of Rotors with Fluidic Pitch Links Email: smt249@psu.edu
Matthew Krott, Ph.D. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Pennsylvania State University, '13 Project: Passive Helicopter Vibration Control Using F²MC Tubes Email: krott@psu.edu Resume	Mayank Garg, Ph.D. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering IIT Kharagpur, '10 Project: Model-Based Lithium Ion Battery Management, Control, Estimation, and Aging Email: mxg1042@psu.edu
Jun Ma, Ph.D. B.S. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Peking University, '13 Project: PowerPanels: Multifunctional Composites with Li-Ion Battery Cores Email: jxm1153@psu.edu	Tahzib Safwat, Ph.D. B.E., M.S. in Mechanical Engineering Stony Brook University, '11 Project: Haptics and Energy Harvesting Using Electromechanical Polymers for Wearable Applications Email: tahzib@psu.edu
Nick Papavizas, M.S. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering University of Maryland, '13 Project: Dynamics of Off-Highway Haul Trucks Email: npapavizas@psu.edu	Greg Brulo, M.S. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Pennsylvania State University, '12 Project: Wide-angle Planar Microtracking Microcell Concentrating Photovoltaics Email: gsb155@psu.edu
Mihir Parekh, Ph.D. B.S., M.S. in Energy Science Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, India '18 Project: Effect of electrolyte flow on dendrite and SEI growth in lithium metal batteries Email: mzp523@psu.edu	George Rai, Ph.D. B.S. in Mechanical Engineering University of Balamand, Lebanon '18 Project: Fluid Free Vibration Isolators Co-advisor: Dr. Edward C. Smith Email: ghr16@psu.edu
Gabe Worman, M.S. student B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Brigham Young University Idaho, '21 Project: Machine learning on improving Battery Performance Email: gjw5282@psu.edu	Seth Isaiah Kelley, M.S. student B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Brigham Young University Idaho, '20 Project: Battery Performance Control based on variability in manufacturing Email: sqk6283@psu.edu