Carlo Bussi (Ferrari S.p.A., Italy)
Dr. Carlo Bussi was born in Modena, Italy. He received the M.Sc. degree in mechanical engineering and the Ph.D. degree from Modena University, Italy, in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Since 2004, he has been with Ferrari S.p.A., Maranello, Italy, where he has held different positions inside the Engine, the KERS, and the Power Unit departments. He is currently the Head of the Power Unit Performance Group. His current research interests include optimal control of hybrid drive trains, design of high performance power units, and numerical algorithms for lap time optimization.
Gregory Plett (University of Colorado, USA)
Gregory Plett is Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCCS. He received the B.Eng. degree in Computer-Systems Engineering from Carleton University (Canada), the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford. His research focuses on the management and control of high-capacity battery systems, such as found in hybrid and electric vehicles. Current efforts include: physics-based reduced-order modelling of ideal lithium-ion dynamics; system identification of physics-based model parameters using only current-voltage input-output data; physics-based reduced-order modelling of degradation mechanisms in electrochemical cells; estimation of cell internal state and degradation state; state-of-charge, state-of-health and state-of-life estimation
Stephanie Stockar (Ohio State University, USA)
Stephanie Stockar is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Director of the Control and Optimization for Sustainable Technology (COST) Lab, and Affiliated Faculty with the Sustainability Institute. She also collaborates with The Ohio State University Center for Automotive Research (CAR). Dr. Stockar joined The Ohio State University faculty in 2019. Before joining the MAE Department at OSU, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State University. Prior to that, she was a Research Associate at OSU-CAR. She earned her BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and obtained her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University in 2013. Dr. Stockar is a 2021 NSF CAREER Award recipient, she earned the SAE Ralph Teetor Educational Award (2021), and the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award in Engineering and Applied Science (2020).
Marco Pavone (Stanford University, USA)
Dr. Marco Pavone is an Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, where he directs the Autonomous Systems Laboratory and the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford. He also leads autonomous vehicle research at NVIDIA. Before joining Stanford, he was a Research Technologist within the Robotics Section at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received a Ph.D. degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010. His main research interests are in the development of methodologies for the analysis, design, and control of autonomous systems, with an emphasis on self-driving cars, autonomous aerospace vehicles, and future mobility systems. He is a recipient of a number of awards, including a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, a National Science Foundation Early Career (CAREER) Award, a NASA Early Career Faculty Award, a CSS Award for Technical Excellence in Aerospace Control, and an Early-Career Spotlight Award from the Robotics Science and Systems Foundation. He was identified by the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) as one of America’s 20 most highly promising investigators under the age of 40.
Ralph Kwakernaak (DAF Trucks N.V. Netherlands)
Ralph Kwakernaak is Assistant Chief Engineer within the Global Powertrain Development Department of PACCAR, a global technology leader in the design and manufacture of light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates. Ralph graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Automotive Engineering from HAN University of Applied Sciences and began his career at DAF Trucks in 1997. Over the past 28 years, Ralph has held various positions with increasing responsibilities in Engine and Aftertreatment Development. Currently, he leads a multidisciplinary team of over 200 engineers across three continents, driving advancements in Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) technology with global responsibilities in Definition, Development, and Calibration. His current areas of interest include ICE emission control, mechatronic integration, and Neural Networks.