Herschel Pangborn will hold the Shuman Family Early Career professorship until 2028. Credit: Poornima Tomy/Penn State.
Mechanical engineering early career professor: Herschel Pangborn
May 11, 2026
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Herschel Pangborn, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, was awarded a Shuman Family Early Career Professorship, a three-year professorship that Pangborn will hold until 2028. Penn State mechanical engineering alumnus Clyde Shuman and his wife Nancy pledged $1 million to establish the professorship in 2010.
Q: What is the primary focus of your research?
Pangborn: My research focuses on autonomous systems and control, creating algorithms that allow engineered systems to make decisions on their own. We work across a wide range of applications, including autonomous ground, aerial and undersea robots, electrified aircraft, hybrid cars, microgrids and thermal management systems in buildings. Often our goal is to make these systems safer and more energy efficient.
Q: What are some notable grants or achievements you have recently received?
Pangborn: The enduring achievement is to help train the next generation of engineers. I’m very proud of the alumni from my research group, who are all doing impactful work in their professional careers. Recently, our graduates have gone on to full-time roles at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), Pratt & Whitney, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, the Penn State Applied Research Laboratory (ARL), and elsewhere. Several of our current group members have received prestigious fellowships, including Jonah Glunt’s National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship and Sarah Chekan’s Fulbright Scholarship. Regarding grants, I received a 2025 Young Investigator Program award from the Office of Naval Research (ONR), which is a three-year, $750,000 grant focused on optimizing the propulsion, power and thermal management systems of aircraft. We have other ongoing projects with the Air Force, Navy and NASA. We’re also fortunate to be working with several industrial companies, including Pratt & Whitney and Solar Turbines.
Q: How does the Shuman Family Early Career Professorship impact your work, and what does it mean to receive this recognition?
Pangborn: It’s an absolute honor to receive the Shuman Family Early Career Professorship. Beyond my own efforts, I view this as a recognition of the impactful work by many undergraduate, masters and doctoral students who have contributed to the research group that I direct. This professorship will allow us to continue bridging our research from fundamental theory to real-world applications, with a focus on contributions to robotics and energy. It will also help bring visibility to our research, and Penn State overall, by facilitating travel to national and international venues where we can showcase and disseminate our findings. Lastly, we plan to support curricular advancement in the department by integrating hands-on learning more deeply across the curriculum, leveraging hardware kits developed through a laboratory course that I’ve been teaching for the past six years.
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