Staff

Kevin Hoag
Associate Director
hoag@wisc.edu
Personal Web Page

Kevin Hoag is Associate Director of the ERC and holds a faculty associate position with the College of Engineering, Department of Engineering Professional Development, where he has responsibilities for professional development programming pertaining to the engine industry. Hoag most recently was senior technical advisor for continuing engineering education at Cummins Engine Company, Inc. During his 16 years there, the department he led won the Glenn L. Martin Award for Corporate Leadership in Continuing Education, presented by the International Association for Continuing Engineering Education. Hoag received both his BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from UW-Madison. He did his graduate work with Professor David E. Foster.

Randy Hessel
Associate Scientist
rphessel@wisc.edu
Personal Web Page

Randy Hessel is an Associate Scientist at the ERC. His research efforts currently include combustion chamber optimization for improving fuel economy and reducing emissions, ignition and EGR model development and implementation, cycle simulation and general diesel combustion/CFD model application. Hessel also acts as a liaison between industry and the ERC and mentors ERC graduate students in their research. Other areas of activity include developing and instructing workshops related to the use of both in-house and third party computation tools used at the ERC. Dr. Hessel recieved his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Mechanical Engineering in 1993, then worked at Cummins Engine Company before joining the ERC in 1998.

Glenn Bower
Associate Scientist
grbower@wisc.edu

Associate Scientist Glenn Bower joined the ERC staff after obtaining his Ph.D. at the U.W. in 1992. In his position as an Associate Scientist, Glenn acts as a general scientific advisor to the students. With expertise in electronically controlled injectors and rate shaping as well as using optical diagnostics such as exciplex, two-dimensional two-color optical pyrometer, FTIR, high speed photography and lasers, he is a valuable resource to the ERC. Glenn also serves as a co-Principal Investigator on a current research program with Detroit Diesel Corporation and has taught several undergraduate courses for the ME Department. In addition to his responsibilities at the ERC, Glenn shares his expertise with undergraduate students as the advisor for the student SAE Baja car project and Future Car team.

Youngchul Ra
Associate Scientist
yra@wisc.edu

Youngchul Ra is an Associate Scientist at the ERC. His research currently relates to gaseous fuel injection/mixing, two-phase flow, low temperature combustion (LTC) and emissions, alternative fuels, gasoline direct injection compression ignition engine (GDICI), multi-component spray models, multi-component fuel chemistry, chemical kinetics, soot deposition, etc. Ra also mentors ERC graduate students in their research. Ra joined the ERC in 2000 after completing his Ph.D. in 1999 at the Sloan Automotive Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Michael Andrie
Associate Researcher
mandrie@wisc.edu

Michael Andrie is an Associate Researcher at the ERC. He coordinates and mentors ERC graduate students in their lab research experiments on internal combustion engines. He also serves as the Program Manager for "Direct-injection Engine Research Consortium" (DERC) which includes 28 members.

He received his BS and MS degrees from the University of Minnesota in 1980 and prior to joining the ERC, he worked for Cummins and John Deere on diesel engine development. He has 29 years of industry performance and mechanical development experience on advanced compression ignition engines for commercial automotive and off-road applications.

Steve Noftle
Grants and Contracts Specialist
snoftle@engr.wisc.edu

Steve Noftle runs the ERC office and coordinates ERC business operations, including financial and personnel matters.

Joshua Leach
Computer System Administrator
leachj@engr.wisc.edu
WiscChat: jmleach@wisc.edu

Joshua Leach is the system administrator for the ERC computing systems.

Ralph Braun
Instrumentation Specialist
rjbraun@facstaff.wisc.edu

Instrumentation Specialist Ralph Braun joined the ERC in 1996. He has extensive experience in engine problem diagnostics and maintenance, as well as manufacturing and machining technologies. He is a valuable resource for the students as they modify engines, install new experimental facilities and work to repair an occasional mechanical failure. Ralph also has the responsibilities of coordinating and supervising the student hourly workers who are hired to help the graduate students in the laboratory.