Ariana Garbers | President
Ariana Garbers is a fourth-year Industrial Engineering major from Roswell, GA. As GTSR President, Ariana is responsible for overseeing project management, business and race operations, and team logistics. Outside of GTSR, Ariana teaches group fitness at the CRC and loves spending time with her pet gecko Hobbes.
Joonha Hwang | Vehicle Lead
Joonha is a third-year Mechanical Engineering major from San Jose, CA. He joined the team to develop renewable energy technology competitively. As the Vehicle Lead, he leads the design, validation, and implementation of SR-4. Outside of Solar Racing, Joonha sings tenor with the Glee Club & Chamber Choir and enjoys Mario Kart.
Mario Lopes | Electrical Lead
Mario is a third-year electrical engineering student at Georgia Tech. As the team’s Electrical Lead, Mario oversees the design and implementation of all electrical systems for GTSR’s solar car, ensuring that all regulatory standards are met. Mario is passionate about renewable energy and hopes to one day apply his GTSR experiences to the amplification of public transport. Outside of Solar Racing, he enjoys biking, playing Mario Kart with friends, and learning about electric motors and power electronics.
Angel Garcia | Mechanical Lead
Angel Garcia is a third-year mechanical engineering major. As Mechanical Lead, Angel is responsible for the design and implementation of all mechanical systems on the solar car. He is passionate about renewable energy and electric vehicles.
Alan Yeung | Race Operations Lead
Alan is a fourth-year Aerospace Engineering BSMS student. As the former Aerobody Lead, Alan exploits his systems engineering and engineering design process knowledge to streamline race operations. As Race Ops Lead, Alan is responsible for race planning & logistics, developing and executing testing plans, and race tactics. Outside of Solar, Alan is a Mission Operator for JPL’s Lunar Flashlight at the Space System Design Laboratory and enjoys playing contract bridge.
Joe Durante | Business Lead
Joe is a second-year mechanical engineering student from the greater Philadelphia area. As Business Lead, Joe is responsible for regulating the team budget, managing the team sponsors, and raising funds for the team. Outside of Solar Racing, Joe enjoys running and hiking.
William Nguyen | Outreach Lead
William is a third-year electrical engineering student from East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. As Outreach Lead, William handles recruitment, social events, and the club’s presence on campus and online. William hopes to promote a positive and friendly club environment, and wants to contribute to sustainability. Outside of Solar Racing, William enjoys calisthenics, reading, and listening to music.
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.