2013-2014 Team Members
Carlos Guerrero
Carlos Guerrero is a senior BSME major student at San José State University. He currently
has an internship with Otis Elevator Company, where he is gaining field experience
with general contractors, Otis project managers, and elevator engineers. He is putting
his current field experience and company organizations skills to use with the SMSSV
team. Carlos’s dream is to one day own his own company.
Cormac Wicklow
Cormac Wicklow is a BSME major student at San José State University. Aside from schoolwork
and projects, his engineering experience is as a summer intern in the MDP division
of Applied Materials. At Applied Materials Cormac worked on cutting edge R&D and mechanical
design for Physical Vapor Deposition Wafer Processing Technology. His contributions
to the SMSSV team is from his experience working in a large organizational setting
where many teams work towards a common goal, experience in computer aided design,
and excellent understanding of bachelor level mechanical engineering principles. Cormac
would like to work at a large established company once he gets his bachelor degree.
His dream job would be to work on R&D for Lockheed Martin.
Cory Osterman
Cory Osterman is the Controls lead for the hardware-side of the Controls team. He
is a San José State University Mechanical Engineering senior with a concentration
in Mechatronics. Cory was drawn to the Spartan Superway project by the opportunity
to work on a large-scale, interdisciplinary project with experienced industry mentors.
Also, as a public transportation rider, he was likely driven by his own selfish desire
to improve his everyday commute. When he is not wiring up breadboards and programming
Arduino microcontrollers, Cory works as a Mechanical Engineering Intern for Whipsaw,
an award-winning product design and engineering firm located in San José. He spends
his summers developing robotics and computer game design curriculum for the popular
Bay Area summer camps offered by TechKnowHow, which he also helps teach. Cory is a
big fan of the Maker Movement, desktop manufacturing, and a sucker for board games.
Daniel Conroy
Daniel Conroy is a senior at San José State University in the BSME program. He is
a member of the guideway and station team for the SMSSV project. His main contributions
include the visual design and analysis of the guideway, with an emphasis on safety.
Outside of school, he works for a design consulting company as a junior engineer fluent
in CAD. This experience is crucial in the development and analysis of the CAD models
created in this project. After graduation, he hopes to pursue a career in the biomedical
field, while continuing to learn about design.
David Lohtak
David is earning his bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering with a capstone in Mechanical
Design. He is passionate about anything with wheels that can go fast, especially motorcycles.
He has been riding motocross and rock climbing since he was young boy, and his hobbies
are one of the driving forces behind why he chose to major in Mechanical Engineering.
He is an outdoor enthusiast and enjoys all extreme sports and activities (which has
gotten him severely injured more times than he would have liked). He became interested
in joining this project because he saw the extreme need for developing a quick and
convenient mode of public transportation since he has taken public transportation
on a weekly basis for the past 6 years. His focus for the rest of the year will deal
with creating a solution for the propulsion system on the bogie.
Elizabeth Poche
Elizabeth Poche is a Computer Engineering Bachelor’s student at San José State University.
Elizabeth joined SMSSV to help progress environmental friendly improvements in cars
and solve rising traffic issues in Silicon Valley. Elizabeth is part of the control
systems team and is responsible of the system design. The system design includes programming
and communicating the master controllers, stations, and pods. Through this project
she expects to gain knowledge in control systems and apply it to other control systems.
Prior to joining SMSSV, she interned at Lockheed Martin for two summers. This past
summer she went to China as part of the Global Technology Initiative leadership program
to study globalization manufacturing and business. Elizabeth enjoys making music and
traveling.
Eriberto Velazquez
Eriberto Velazquez is pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Engineering at San
José State University. He has always had passion for learning about alternative energy
technologies and when the opportunity arose to be involved in the SMSSV project, he
was ready to jump on-board. For Eriberto, the SMSSV project presented the opportunity
to get involved in a new and challenging area, the field of autonomous systems and
alternative energy. Through his involvement in the SMSSV project, Eriberto hopes to
gain new knowledge, expand his leadership and communication skills, and meet some
new people with diverse academic backgrounds. Outside of academics, Eriberto enjoys
outdoor activities including: kayaking, hiking, traveling, and more recently running.
In the summer of 2013, he participated in his first ever half marathon at the SF marathon
in June. He intends to continue his running career and hopes to one day do an Ironman
race.
Francisco Martinez
Francisco Martinez is a graduating senior enrolled in San José State University's
Mechanical Engineering program. As the team lead for the Solar Power team his contributions
are geared towards concept design, prototype manufacturing, project management, and
a start-up approach to the SMSSV project. Francisco has worked in IT for the past
3 years, and from 2012-2013 held an internship as a Jr. QA Test Engineer at Handstand
Inc., a software development company focused on education and media content management.
He enjoys traveling, and having lived in Munich for a summer, he more than anything
enjoys Europe. His career interest are in sustainable, energy, products, and design
where he hopes to gain more experience.
Henry Tran
Henry Tran is a graduating Senior enrolled in San José State University’s Mechanical
Engineering program. Henry is a member of the Solar Power Team and Secretary for the
SMSSV. Within the Solar Power Team, he is part of the designing and prototyping of
the ATN solar tracking system. Henry’s work experience includes a Summer Internship
at Lam Research as a Mechanical Engineer Intern. There he was able to get exposure
with 3D modeling, manufacturing, data analysis, and hands on experience in the semiconductor
industry.
Jaston Rivera
Jaston Rivera is currently a Senior at SJSU in the BSME program and also currently
working on attaining his Minor in Business Management. Jaston’s contribution to the
SMSSV project is as a Project Manager, as well as being part of the Solar Design Team.
When the concept of a form of public transportation that was power completely on renewable
energy was presented to him, he immediately wanted to be a part of this project. Jaston
has interests in the sustainable and renewable energy fields and is presently working
in the Planning department at Bloom Energy. Through this project he hopes to bring
awareness to this kind of technology, as well as gaining valuable experience in engineering
and management.
Ken Ho
Ken Ho is a senior at San José State University majoring in Mechanical Engineering.
Ken, a member of the SMSSV, is one of the designers for the cabin team. His task is
to contribute and develop a conceptual design to prototype manufacturing. He will
be collaborating with the industrial designers and human centered team. In addition,
he has worked for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, as an intern
he was assisting the project engineers to ensure the project was reliable and able
to meet requirements. Based on his internship, he joined the SMSSV project because
he believes he will be able to expand his skills and knowledge even further more in
the transit industry.
Laisz Lam
Laisz Lam is a student at the College of Business of SJSU, graduating this Fall semester
2013. Laisz has been volunteering at the start of the Sustainable Mobility System
Silicon Valley (SMSSV) at San José State University since September 2012. Her formal
education is in graphic design and business accounting. Being a co-founder of two
technology companies, her working experience is quite diverse. She has designed the
organization logo for SMSSV. This year, she is contributing her entrepreneurial experience
to the nonprofit start-up SMSSV. Currently she is working on the business plan for
Prof. Furman who is the director for this interdisciplinary team project.
Man Ho
Man Ho is a member of the Control Team in which his role is to design the pod's speed
and acceleration control system to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers. Besides
spending time with his family, Man enjoys driving, playing video games and plans to
travel the world when the occasion arises. A native of Vietnam, Man experienced firsthand
the negative impacts of a rapidly growing population combining with unsustainable
transportation solutions. Man joined the project with the hope that his small contributions
would help bring about positive impacts on the future our planet and human mobility,
not just in the U.S. but also in countries around the world. Man is currently in his
senior year majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Mechatronics
at SJSU. He is fluent in English and Vietnamese and still retains some French from
his bilingual primary education.
Maria Blum-Sullivan
Maria Blum-Sullivan is a Human-Centered Designer who has dedicated her life to using
design to fuel social change. An alumni of SJSU, she returned as mentor for the SMSSV
project to help students in the areas of design and the user experience. In her professional
life, she runs the design firm Blum+Sullivan Design and serves on the Board of Directors
for The Center for Farmworker Families.
Marjo Mallari
Marjo Mallari is a computer engineering undergraduate at SJSU. She joined the SMSSV
team because she was interested in working on an interesting project for her senior
project. The suspended railway design for a personal rapid transit system captivated
her because it was a fresh and challenging engineering solution to the traffic problems
that she faces as a driver. She is interested in designing the project’s master controller’s
scheduling algorithm. She also wants to focus on creating the interface between the
customer and the reservation or ticketing system. Aside from academics, Marjo likes
to learn random facts because she enjoys watching Jeopardy! She seeks to diversify
her knowledge by traveling and reading. She wants to visit each continent and read
science fiction, fantasy, and dystopian novels. Her favorite novels include the Harry
Potter series, Oryx and Crake, and The DaVinci Code.
Max Goldberg
Max is a mechanical design student in the SJSU ME program, and is the bogie team leader.
He was originally in the Industrial Design program, but found calculations easier
than hand drawing. Max is primarily excited about two ME subjects: Renewable Energy
and Product Design. The former involved him in Reneco, a project to create a startup
renewable energy company. The project was ill fated, but fostered an entrepreneurial
spirit. In addition to engineering topics, he is interested in brand identity, interface
design, and philosophy. On his off days, Max enjoys cars almost as much as he enjoys
driving them. Three pedals are a necessity, and he’ll easily burn away 8 gallons of
gas on a good day, and end up right back where he started. He became involved with
the Superway project because he’d rather spend his gas money carving up backroads
than commuting to work.
Paolo Mercado
A member of the Bogie Team, Paolo Mercado is a senior at San José State University
pursuing an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering. He is taking a focus on
mechanical design and has an interest in automotive transportation, both of which
coincide with this particular aspect of the 2013-2014 Superway project. Through the
remainder of the project Paolo, along with the Bogie Team, looks to create a physical
replica of their final design, going one step closer towards making an autonomous
transportation network in the Silicon Valley a reality. Outside of his studies Paolo
is an avid cyclist.
Randall Morioka
Randall Morioka is a student at San José State University, majoring in Mechanical
Engineering and minoring in Japanese. In 2007 he received his Eagle Scout rank in
Boy Scouts after leading a community service project that involved constructing and
donating planter boxes to Union House Elementary. He decided to join the Spartan Superway
team after he saw the potential in the project. Not only that but he was also excited
at the opportunity to work with other engineers from different disciplines and students
from different majors. Randall joined the controls team after noticing that the team
holds potential to learn about mechatronics, which is his specialization in mechanical
engineering.
Tim Santiago
Timothy Santiago is a senior enrolled in the BSME program at SJSU. Timothy, a member
of the SMSSV, is one of the designers for the solar power team. Contributions towards
the efforts of the team are geared towards concept design to prototype manufacturing.
In addition, he is currently sustaining an internship at View Inc., a leading developer
of electro chromic glass, where he seeks to develop his expertise in a multidisciplinary
environment working in both process development and product management. Prior to View
Inc., Timothy worked for Genentech, Inc. as an intern for the summer of 2013 supporting
efforts in a special projects team to sustain Genentech’s energy portfolio. His career
interests are in sustainable products and green building where he hopes to gain more
experience in this dynamic industry.
Trent Smith
Trent Smith is a senior enrolled in SJSU's computer engineering program. He chose
to study computer engineering because of his love of puzzles, patterns, problem solving,
helping people, and curiosity in computer electronics. He is part of the controls
team for SMSSV, and will be in charge of designing network logic and pod scheduling
algorithms. He is an active member of the SCE whom frequently tutors his peers. His
technical interests include networking, embedded software, mobile technology, operating
systems, FPGAs, and PCB design. He currently works for SJSU Technical Services, providing
network support for students and faculty. He frequently participates in school events
such as the recent 2014 Barracuda Hackthon where his team placed 4th he practices
Judo, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, bonsai, programming, and plays video games.