John Linden

Background

About John Linden

I'm a B.S. Electrical Engineering student at MSOE, graduating in May 2026. I have diverse team-based project experience being the electrical design lead on MSOE's Formula Hybrid team devoting 15+ hours a week with a full academic schedule. Skills in NI MultiSim, Quartis, and Altium. I grew up in a household with parents who fix things rather than replace them. Since I can remember, my dad was always teaching me how to repaint base trim, or fix the washing machine, or changing brake pads on the car. He is the smartest and handiest guy I knew. He could fix anything. Going into high school, I developed an interest in cars. I took vocational automotive classes all throughout high school. We would do maintenance on faculty cars, work on lab cars, and also work on our own cars. I tore my entire engine apart my senior year to replace some oil seals that had degraded from time and I loved the challenge. I learned a lot about my car's engine and I became super interested in the history and evolution of my cars engine. My junior year I decided that I wanted to go into engineering because I often got enthralled by the designs of the engines, transmissions and other systems in the cars that I worked on in high school. I'm a proud member of my colleges Formula SAE Hybrid team. When I got to school my freshman year, I knew that formula hybrid was a team I had to join. The team is currently recovering from the massive information loss due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year I was one of three or four electrical engineers on the team. This year I have grown the electrical team quite a bit. During the pandemic, a lot of time was spend designing a new chassis and powertrain system but nothing new was designed for the electrical system. This year, we are working on taking the system from the previous car and implementing it into the new chassis which presents many engineering challenges. The old system included a three phase motor, a high voltage motor controller powered by custom lithium ion segments and a custom hybrid control board. Design for the next chassis is being started this year. I have plans to design a brand new electrical system which includes 2 hub motors to power the front wheels while the ICE powers the rear wheels. Working on a long term project is something I find really satisfying and rewarding. I will always be working on project cars for the rest of my life and really love the challenges that come from automotive projects.