Scholarship Spotlight- John Iluno

We are proud to announce our newest recipient of the GEM for STEM Undergraduate Scholarship, John Iluno!
John is a senior student at Indiana Institute of Technology with a major in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Mathematics. His goal is to become a Mechanical Design Engineer and help build technologies that will help mitigate the environmental and health impact of air pollution and global warming. Technologies like electric vehicles, robotics, and electric airplanes are some of my primary interests.

Please provide a brief description highlighting your work/area of focus. 
I participated in research at the Oak Ridge Laboratory. In this research, we mathematically and experimentally modeled the nonlinear response rate of dendrite formation in lithium-Ion batteries. Dendrites are one of the primary causes of short circuits in batteries—hence, they cause batteries to explode. Seeing that most all-electric vehicles use lithium-ion batteries to store electrical energy and most automotive companies are transitioning from manufacturing internal combustion engine vehicles to all-electric vehicles, I feel opportune and grateful to be part of this research. Currently, my team and I are building a robot named MART for our senior project. MART is short for a Motor-driven Adaptable Rough Terrain robot. It is a wireless controlled rough-terrain robot that is capable of maneuvering through different terrains. It also has an inbuilt quadrupled compression coil spring legs design that can make continuous jumps of over four feet.
 
If your scholarship funds HAVE NOT BEEN USED yet, how do you anticipate you will achieve success?
Robots are popularly employed in different terrains for operations in forestry, agriculture, search and rescue, hazardous site inspections, and space exploration. However, there are not many lightweight all-terrain robots capable of maneuvering through varieties of obstacles (with relatively high altitudes). Hence, there is a need for developments in this field. Students and engineers from MIT, CalTech, Stanford University, and Boston Dynamics are actively working on this area of robotics, and now my school can join the race to develop the first agile all-terrain robot. My team and I will achieve success through diligence and hard work. By applying the knowledge and skills I gained in my academic and career pursuit, I can complete the MART project next semester.

Tell us what this scholarship means to you.
This scholarship means a lot to me because it will help relieve me from the financial stress of college expenses. I am a working student and this scholarship to pay by outstanding college expenses to graduate next semester (Spring 2022)

John's team photo taken after presenting a talk at the University of Tennesse, Knoxville on our research at Oak Ridge Laboratory.

​TO LEARN MORE ABOUT JOHN ILUNO CHECK OUT HIS LINK.