Faculty Advisor

Dr. Bilén (BS Penn State 1991, MSE 1993 and PhD Univ. of Michigan 1998) is an Associate Professor of Engineering Design, Electrical Engineering, and Aerospace Engineering at Penn State. He is on the faculty of the Engineering Design Program and is course chair for the College’s Introduction to Engineering Design course, taken by over 1800 students per year. Holding a joint appointment in EE, he is a member of the Department’s Communications and Space Sciences Laboratory; he is also a member of the Propulsion Engineering Research Center and the Engineering Environmental Institute. In December 2003, he joined the University’s Center for Space Research Programs as Chief Technologist.

Prof. Bilén views faculty involvement with students outside the classroom and with student projects as extremely important and integral to the mission of the university. He has supervised many honors theses, independent studies, and international internships. Dr. Bilén is a faculty advisor for the Flyin’ Lions, one of the programs under the newly created Student Space Programs Lab (SSPL), which he advises.

Prof. Bilén’s research interests include the areas of electrodynamic-tethers; spacecraft–plasma interactions; space systems design; plasma diagnostics for space plasmas, plasma electric thrusters, and semiconductor plasma processing; software-defined radio techniques and systems; innovative engineering design, systems design, and new product design; engineering entrepreneurship; and global and virtual engineering design.

Dr. Bilén is member of IEEE, AIAA, AGU, ASEE, and Sigma Xi.

Graduate Student Advisor