Heatherington named mechanical engineering student marshal
5/1/2020
By Erin Cassidy Hendrick
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Evan Heatherington has been selected as the student marshal representing the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Penn State’s spring 2020 commencement ceremony, held virtually on May 9. Heatherington, an accomplished student with a 4.0 GPA, hails from Gibsonia.
During his undergraduate career, he developed a close relationship with his chosen faculty marshal, Aman Haque, professor of mechanical engineering and engineering science and mechanics. He is a research technician for Haque’s company, Impulse Technology, LLC, where he contributes to the research, design and manufacturing of bio-mechanical energy harvesting solutions.
“Evan Heatherington is a true mechanical engineer by heart; he is ‘cranked up’ by mechanical design problems that go beyond the textbooks,” Haque said.
Heatherington will be continuing his education at Penn State by pursuing a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, advised by Nick Meisel, assistant professor of engineering design and mechanical engineering. He will be devoting his research energies to the field of origami engineering, designing devices or components in a way that allows them to be folded into a smaller space and deployed to an expanded form when needed.
“My interest in mechanical engineering has always been from a true design standpoint,” he said. “The classes on designing for additive manufacturing really helped shaped me as an engineer.”
During his time at Penn State, he earned the Evan Pugh Scholar Senior Award, the President Sparks Award and the President’s Freshman Award.
While Heatherington said there have been some challenges to overcome attending class virtually, he said the transition has been successful.
“My capstone design project was the Shell Eco-Marathon Competition 2020, due to COVID-19, we weren’t able to compete,” he said. “But we teamed up with another group that is working on designing the next-gen vehicle for 2022.”
In his prototyping for design class, taught by Jessica Menold, assistant professor of engineering design, mechanical engineering and industrial and manufacturing engineering, he and his fellow students made contributions to a project aimed at ventilator design to assist in the COVID-19 response.
Looking to the future, he is eager to continue pursuing his passion for design, through his graduate education and potentially through a career in the aerospace industry after graduation.
He said, “I’m still in the mindset to learn!”
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Evan Heatherington. IMAGE: PROVIDED
