Sam Woolsey | President
Sam is a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Blacksburg, VA. As President, Sam is responsible for representing the team externally, as well as managing the business, outreach, and operations divisions. In his free time, Sam enjoys playing drum set, jumping off rope swings, and riding his bike.
Marco Yaipen | SR-4 Vehicle Lead
Marco Yaipen, a 4th year EE major, is the current vehicle lead for the current solar car, SR4. As the car approaches its final participation in the American Solar Challenge, he is responsible for reinforcing the reliability of all of electrical and mechanical systems that make up the vehicle. Outside of solar, he enjoys playing guitar and designing custom amps and pedals, while torturing his close friends with his “impeccable” music taste.
Florian Chevalier | SR-5 Vehicle Lead
Florian is a third-year mechanical engineering student from Miami, FL. As SR-5 lead, he is responsible for coordinating the mechanical and electrical divisions, ensuring we stay on track to complete our next car. Outside of solar racing, Florian enjoys road cycling, skiing, and anything outdoorsy.
Pranjal Chatterjee | Electrical Lead
Pranjal is a third-year Electrical Engineering major and CS + Physics minor from San Jose, California. As the team’s Electrical Lead, Pranjal oversees the design and implementation of all electrical systems for GTSR’s solar cars, aiming for reliability and optimization in design and manufacturing. Outside of Solar Racing, Pranjal enjoys playing the trombone, hiking, and cooking.
Alex Abraham | Mechanical Lead
Alex Abraham is a second year Materials Science and Engineering Major from McLean, VA. As mechanical lead, Alex is responsible for the design and implementation of all mechanical systems on the GTSR’s solar cars. Outside of Solar Racing, Alex is a research assistant in the High Strain Rate Lab and is a TO at the MILL. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, gaming, and bouldering.
Alexa Hoang | Race Operations Lead
Alexa is a second-year Mechanical Engineering student from Dallas, TX. As the Race Operations Lead, she is responsible for the car’s journeys in and out of shop as well as race and testing logistics. Her favorite solar memory is staying at the SCC until 2am on the night before the mini-500 to build the racing trike.
Roy Mazor | Business Lead
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Priya Sharma | Outreach Lead
Priya Sharma is a third-year Mechanical Engineering student from Evans, GA. As Outreach lead, she is responsible for overseeing the recruitment process as well as external relations. In her free time, she enjoys baking, lifting, and playing games with friends.
Mike Tinskey | Faculty Advisor
Mike recently led Ford Motor Company’s go-to-market strategy and execution for Ford’s electrified vehicles globally from 2009-2019. Mike developed and executed foundational global product cycle plan and incubated new businesses and services to support the plug-in products such as Mustang Mach-e, Focus EV, Fusion Energi, and Transit Connect Electric. Mr. Tinskey was the lead in getting global automakers to align around a common EV connector for high-powered charging.
Mike also led emerging business activities as Director of Global Emerging Services, Connected Vehicles. His focus was to develop and implement new products, business models, and partnerships to ensure the success of Ford’s connectivity plans globally, including the generation of new revenue opportunities. Mike recently led the creation of several new entities including Ford Insure (digital insurance), Ionity (ultra-fast charging joint venture), and Ford Commercial Services (digital fleet services). He’s also been one of the key leaders in spinning off technology-based component companies Visteon and Automotive Components Holdings (ACH).
Mike is a co-founder of Cobra Motorcycles, as well as a drone start-up Cobra Aero. Mr. Tinskey has served on the Georgia Tech Mechanical Engineering and ECE Advisory boards for well over a decade. He enjoys mentoring start-ups and CreateX teams.
Mike is currently the Professor of Practice at Georgia Tech with his research and teaching focus on intrapreneurship, electrification, and energy.
David Smith | Mechanical Advisor
David R. “Alpha” Smith (Ph.D., PE) has spent his career between teaching and engineering practice. After working initially as a postdoctoral research engineer, he joined the Mechanical Engineering faculty at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, earning tenure there in 1998. In 2000, he entered private engineering practice, supporting the design, commissioning, and control of large, high-frequency radio telescopes. While this allowed occasional opportunities to teach, he missed the classroom enough to return full-time to teaching by joining Georgia Tech’s GWW School of Mechanical Engineering as a Lecturer in 2018. He teaches a wide range of courses in the undergraduate core curriculum and has provided advice to the GT Solar Racing team in mechanical design, mechanisms, experimental design, modeling, and data analysis.