Will Northrop’s research interests are in the area of connected vehicle technology, energy use in electrified vehicles, renewable fuels, internal combustion engines, and energy conversion. His work involves fundamental combustion research, emissions characterization, novel engine cycle development, and alternative fuel use. In addition, he focuses on data analytics for in-use vehicles and is leading projects to develop data-driven physics-based models to improve energy efficiency. He is also leading projects to characterize and reduce harmful emissions from combustion-powered devices and to reduce fuel consumption from engines used primarily in transportation applications.
Northrop received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie Mellon in 1997 and MS and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from University of Michigan in 2004 and 2009, respectively. After receiving his doctorate, he held the position of senior researcher at General Motors Research and Development, where he worked in the Propulsion Systems Research Laboratory.