Jalaj Maheshwari

About Me

Hi there! I’m Jalaj Maheshwari, an engineer with a passion for technology, business, and innovative products. I’m actively seeking full-time opportunities in a product management role.

Throughout my education and professional career, I have actively pursued my interests in core technical research and business development. On the technical side, I have experience in biomechanics, product design, artificial intelligence, robotics, and safety. Since I currently work at a soft-money funded research center, part of my job is to design and pitch projects to automotive stakeholders, child seat manufacturers, and government regulatory affairs, secure funding, and lead cross functional teams on the technical, administrative, and financial aspects of funded projects.

To fuel my business interests, I have been involved with the Penn Wharton Venture Initiation Program (VIP) and the Penn Center for Innovation to explore technical product development and product management, conduct customer discovery, assess product-market fit for specific target market segments, identify business development opportunities, and develop innovative solutions to solve problems.

Personally, I enjoy reading about entrepreneurial ventures and learn from the experiences of other people, staying updated on current affairs, watching movies, and experimenting with new and diverse cuisines. I’ve taught myself to play the guitar, bass, and piano, and thoroughly enjoy composing, recording, and listening to music. I was a competitive swimmer in high school, but Formula-1 and football are my favorite sports. I’m an animal lover and try to help out the local animal shelter through fostering.

Please feel free to reach out to me via email. I enjoy having a conversation and would love to chat with you!


Jalaj's Resume

Professional Experience




Center for Injury Research and Prevention, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA, USA

Project Lead Investigator

Oct 2019 - Present
  • Secured $500k in project funding from the automotive industry by designing and pitching projects, negotiating deliverables, and managing industry stakeholders.
  • Supervised 4+ member teams on 12 projects focusing on vehicle occupant safety and injury prevention over 5 years resulting in 37 conference presentations and publications.

Project Engineer

May 2016 - Oct 2019
  • Directed 3 usability studies with 40+ participants to guide feature and product development in vehicles and child seats.
  • Performed qualitative and quantitative data analysis of volunteer behavior and metric data using Python and MATLAB.
  • Reduced man-hours by 98% and increased team productivity by automating data extraction from simulations via Python scripts.
  • Decreased computation times by 30%, thereby increasing efficiency by integrating high-performance computing resources.

mLab, PRECISE, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Research Assistant

September 2017 - May 2018
  • Developed F1Tenth, an open-source 1/10th size autonomous racecar hardware and software platform used by universities across the world, resulting in 34 racecar builds with improved autonomous vehicle algorithms and 15% faster racetrack lap times.
  • Optimized the algorithm and racecar design through iterative testing using ROS, C++, Python, and mechanical upgrades.
  • Co-hosted the F1Tenth competition involving 8 international autonomous vehicle research teams at Cyber-Physical Systems Week 2018 held in Porto, Portugal with ~1000 attendees.

Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, MI, USA

Summer Intern

June 2017 - September 2017
  • Headed technical development of a computational model for a child seat using scanned CAD data and finite element software to be used in Ford’s US & European vehicle development and assessment protocols, and delivered in an aggressive 2-month deadline.
  • Collaborated with cross-functional teams across research, product development, and product testing departments.
  • Validated the model with <10% error in kinematic and kinetic injury metrics from a pediatric crash test dummy in frontal vehicle crashes.

Indian Institute of Technology – Gandhinagar, INDIA

Research Intern (Bachelor's Thesis)

May 2015 – July 2015
  • Modeled CFD conditions for standard AGARD 445.6 wing in Star-CCM+ and structural conditions in ABAQUS.
  • Coupled fluid and stuctural software to simulate fluid-structure interaction (FSI) and validated the interface for use in other FSI problems.



Adani Power Limited, INDIA

Summer Intern

May 2013 – July 2013
  • Studied design and working of Coal Handling Unit of the power plant.
  • Increased conveyor belt life of coal handling unit by 167% by identifying the cause of mechanical failure and improving splicing procedure.

Education

University of Pennsylvania

United States of America

May 2017

Master of Science in Engineering

Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Birla Institute of Technology & Science – Pilani

India

July 2015

Bachelor of Engineering (Hons.)

Mechanical Engineering

Projects


Skills

Mechanical

CATIA V5

SolidWorks

Pro-E

Siemens NX

DFM

GD and T

3D-Printing

ANSYS

HyperMesh

Star CCM+

LS-DYNA

MADYMO

AutoCAD

DFA

Laser Cutting

Programming Abilities

C

C++

Python

MATLAB

SQL

ROS

TensorFlow

Keras

HTML

CSS

Languages

English

Full professional proficiency

Hindi

Native or bilingual proficiency

German

Elementary proficiency

French

Elementary proficiency

Gujarati

Limited working proficiency

Publications / Presentations

Journal Papers

  1. Patton, D.A., Maheshwari, J., Arbogast, K.B., “Interactions between rearward-facing child restraint systems and the front row seatback in frontal impact sled tests,” Traffic Injury Prevention. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2022.2078812
  2. Patton, D.A., Maheshwari, J., Arbogast, K.B., Graci, V., “Head contacts in second-row pediatric occupants when the front-seat is reclined during automated emergency braking,” Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering (2022): 1-12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10255842.2022.2032003
  3. Patton, D.A., Belwadi, A.N., Maheshwari, J., Arbogast, K.B., “Rearward-Facing Infant Child Restraint Systems with Support Legs in Frontal and Frontal-Oblique Impacts,” International Journal of Environment Research and Public Health 2021, 18, 10799. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010799
  4. Seacrist, S., Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Chingas, G., Thirkill, M., Loeb, H.S., “In-depth analysis of crash contributing factors and potential ADAS interventions among at-risk drivers using the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study,” Traffic Injury Prevention. 2021 Sep 12:S68-S73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2021.1979529
  5. Loeb, H.S., Vo-Phamhi, E., Seacrist, T., Maheshwari, J., Yang, C., “Vehicle Automation Emergency Scenario: Using a Driving Simulator to Assess the Impact of Hand and Foot Placement on Reaction Time,” SAE Technical Paper 2021-01-0861, 2021.
  6. Graci, V., Austin, M., Griffith, M., Akkem, R., Maheshwari, J., Seacrist, S., Arbogast, K.B., “Characterizing Driver Takeover Accuracy: Effect of Age, Sex, Startle, and Secondary Task,” Biomedical Sciences Instrumentation, 2021 Apr; 57:2, pg: 281-289. DOI: https://doi.org/10.34107/BiomedSciInstrum.57.04281
  7. Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Falciani, C., Belwadi, A., “Analysis of Kinematic Response of Pediatric Occupants seated in Naturalistic Positions in Simulated Frontal Small Offset Impacts: With and Without Automatic Emergency Braking,” Stapp Car Crash Journal, Vol. 64, pg:31-59, 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4271/2020-22-0002
  8. Patton, D.A., Belwadi A.N., Maheshwari, J., Arbogast, K.B., “Evaluation of Rotation Reduction Features in Infant and Extended-Use Convertible Child Restraint Systems during Frontal and Rear Impacts,” Stapp Car Crash Journal, Vol. 64, pg: 61-81, 2020, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4271/2020-22-0003
  9. Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Falciani, C., Belwadi, A., “Pediatric Occupant Human Body Model Kinematic and Kinetic Response Variation to Changes in Seating Posture in Simulated Frontal Impacts - With and Without Automatic Emergency Braking,” Traffic Injury Prevention, DOI: 10.1080/15389588.2020.1825699
  10. Seacrist, S., Maheshwari, J., Graci, V., Holt, C.M., Akkem, R., Chingas, G., Douglas, E., Griffith, M., Palumbo, A.J., “Biofidelic Evaluation of the Large Omni-Directional Child Anthropomorphic Test Device in Low-Speed Loading Conditions,” Stapp Car Crash Journal, Vol. 63, pg:213-234, 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4271/2019-22-0009
  11. Graci, V., Griffith, M., Maheshwari, J., Akkem, R., Austin, M., Seacrist, S., Arbogast, K.B., “The Effect of An Acoustic Startling Warning On Take-Over Reaction Time And Trunk Kinematics for Drivers in Autonomous Driving Scenarios,” presented at the 63rd Stapp Car Crash Conference, San Antonio, TX, USA, 11-13 November, 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4271/2019-22-0022
  12. Belwadi, A., Sarfare, S., Tushak, S., Maheshwari, J., Menon, S., “Responses of the Scaled Pediatric Human Body Model in Rear- and Forward- Facing Child Seats in Simulated Frontal Motor Vehicle Crashes,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 63rd Annual Scientific Conference, Madrid, Spain, 15-18 October, 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2019.1661684
  13. Loeb, H., Belwadi, A., Maheshwari, J., Shaikh, S., “Age and Gender Differences in Emergency Takeover from Automated to Manual Driving on Simulator,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 63rd Annual Scientific Conference, Madrid, Spain, 15-18 October, 2019, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2019.1661677
  14. Sarfare, S., Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., Belwadi, A., “Comparative Responses of the PIPER 6YO Human Body Model and the Q6 ATD for Simulated Frontal and Lateral Impacts,” presented at the 62nd Stapp Car Crash Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 12-14 November, 2018, DOI: https://doi.org/10.4271/SC18-22-0006
  15. Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., Sarfare, S., Belwadi, A., “Evaluating the Response of the PIPER Scalable Human Body Model Across Newer Child Restraining Seats in Simulated Frontal Crashes,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 62nd Annual Scientific Conference, Nashville, TN, USA, 7-10 October, 2018, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15389588.2018.1532204

Conference Presentations / Proceedings

  1. Maheshwari, J., “Translating Consumer Preferences and Perceptions on Automated Systems and Vehicles to Occupant Safety,” presented at the Buckle Up for Love CPS Tech Update (Florida), Virtual, 22 February, 2022.
  2. Graci, V., Hauschild, H., Humm, J., Maheshwari, J., “Understanding Reclined Small Occupants’ Kinematics in Sled-Simulated Frontal Crashes,” presented at the SAE Government/Industry Meeting, Washington D.C., USA, 18-20 January, 2022.
  3. Maheshwari, J., Slusher, G., “Analysis of 6YO Pediatric Human Body Model Kinematics and Kinetics to Determine Submarining across Naturalistic Seating Postures,” presented to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), Virtual, 8 December, 2021.
  4. Maheshwari, J., Slusher, G., “Analysis of 6YO Pediatric Human Body Model Kinematics and Kinetics to Determine Submarining across Naturalistic Seating Postures,” presented at the International Conference Protection of Children in Cars, Virtual, 1-3 December, 2021.
  5. Hauschild, H., Humm, J., Maheshwari, J., Graci, V., “The Investigation of Submarining in Reclined Child Occupants in Frontal Crashes,” presented at the International Conference Protection of Children in Cars, Virtual, 1-3 December, 2021.
  6. Maheshwari, J., Griffith, M., “Rear-Seated Pediatric Occupant Head Kinematics and Kinetics in Small Overlap Crashes: Restraint Characteristics and Occupant Interaction,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 65th Annual Scientific Conference, Virtual, 19-22 October, 2021.
  7. Seacrist, S., Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Chingas, G., Thirkill, M., Loeb, H.S., “In-depth analysis of crash contributing factors and potential ADAS interventions among at-risk drivers using the SHRP 2 naturalistic driving study,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 65th Annual Scientific Conference, Virtual, 19-22 October, 2021.
  8. Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Falciani, C., Belwadi, A., “Pediatric Occupant Human Body Model Kinematic and Kinetic Response Variation to Changes in Seating Posture in Simulated Frontal Impacts - With and Without Automatic Emergency Braking,” presented at the Research Consortium for Crashworthiness in Automated Driving Systems (RCCADS), 26 May, 2021.
  9. Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Falciani, C., Belwadi, A., “Pediatric Occupant Human Body Model Kinematic and Kinetic Response Variation to Changes in Seating Posture in Simulated Frontal Impacts - With and Without Automatic Emergency Braking,” presented at the Lifesavers National Conference on Highway Safety Priorities, Virtual, 26-28 April, 2021.
  10. Loeb, H.S., Vo-Phamhi, E., Seacrist, T., Maheshwari, J., Yang, C., “Vehicle Automation Emergency Scenario: Using a Driving Simulator to Assess the Impact of Hand and Foot Placement on Reaction Time,” presented at SAE WCX Digital Summit, 13-15 April, 2021.
  11. Graci, V., Austin, M., Griffith, M., Akkem, R., Maheshwari, J., Seacrist, S., Arbogast, K.B., “Characterizing Driver Takeover Accuracy: Effect of Age, Sex, Startle, and Secondary Task,” presented at the 58th Annual Rocky Mountain Bioengineering Symposium, Virtual, 8-10 April, 2021.
  12. Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., “Biomechanics in Autonomous Vehicles: A Pilot Study to Explore Responses of Pediatric Occupants in Non-Traditional Seating Conditions,” presented at the International Conference Protection of Children in Cars, Virtual, 2-4 December, 2020.
  13. Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Falciani, C., Belwadi, A., “Pediatric Occupant Human Body Model Kinematic and Kinetic Response Variation to Changes in Seating Posture in Simulated Frontal Impacts - With and Without Automatic Emergency Braking,” presented to the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association (JPMA), Virtual, 30 November, 2020.
  14. Maheshwari, J., Sarfare, S., Falciani, C., Belwadi, A., “Pediatric Occupant Human Body Model Kinematic and Kinetic Response Variation to Changes in Seating Posture in Simulated Frontal Impacts - With and Without Automatic Emergency Braking,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 64th Annual Scientific Conference, Virtual, 12-16 October, 2020.
  15. Austin, M., Griffith, M., Akkem, R., Maheshwari, J., Seacrist, S., Arbogast, K.B., Graci, V., “Characterizing Driver Takeover Accuracy: Effect of Age, Sex, Startle, and Secondary Task,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 64th Annual Scientific Conference - Student Symposium, Virtual, 12-16 October, 2020.
  16. Seacrist, S., Maheshwari, J., Graci, V., Holt, C.M., Akkem, R., Chingas, G., Douglas, E., Griffith, M., Palumbo, A.J., “Biofidelic Evaluation of the Large Omni-Directional Child Anthropomorphic Test Device in Low-Speed Loading Conditions,” presented at the 63rd Stapp Car Crash Conference, San Antonio, TX, USA, 11-13 November, 2019.
  17. Graci, V., Griffith, M., Maheshwari, J., Akkem, R., Austin, M., Seacrist, S., Arbogast, K.B., “The Effect of An Acoustic Startling Warning On Take-Over Reaction Time And Trunk Kinematics for Drivers in Autonomous Driving Scenarios,” presented at the 63rd Stapp Car Crash Conference, San Antonio, TX, USA, 11-13 November, 2019.
  18. Belwadi, A., Sarfare, S., Tushak, S., Maheshwari, J., Menon, S., “Responses of the Scaled Pediatric Human Body Model in Rear- and Forward- Facing Child Seats in Simulated Frontal Motor Vehicle Crashes,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 63rd Annual Scientific Conference, Madrid, Spain, 15-18 October, 2019.
  19. Loeb, H., Belwadi, A., Maheshwari, J., Shaikh, S., “Age and Gender Differences in Emergency Takeover from Automated to Manual Driving on Simulator,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 63rd Annual Scientific Conference, Madrid, Spain, 15-18 October, 2019.
  20. Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., Sarfare, S., Belwadi, A., "Responses of a 6-Year-Old ATD Restrained in a Booster Child Seat on the FMVSS 213 Test Bench, Proposed Upgraded Test Bench, and a Vehicle Seat in Simulated Frontal Impacts," included in 26th International Technical Conference on The Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV) - Conference Proceedings, Eindhoven, Netherlands, 10-13 June, 2019.
  21. Tushak, S., Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., "Responses of the Scaled Infant Human Body Model in Simulated Frontal Motor Vehicle Crashes," presented at 26th International Technical Conference on The Enhanced Safety of Vehicles (ESV), Eindhoven, Netherlands, 10-13 June, 2019.
  22. Griffith, M.K., Maheshwari, J., Akkem, R., Seacrist, T., Arbogast, K.B., Graci, V., "Can the Acoustic Startling Pre-Stimulus Reduce Take-Over Time in Critical Autonomous Driving Scenarios?," presented at 15th Annual Injury Biomechanics Symposium, Columbus, OH, USA, 19-21 May, 2019.
  23. Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., "Biomechanical Responses of Pediatric Occupants in Non-Standard Seating Positions," presented at SAE Government/Industry Meeting, Washington D.C., USA, 3-5 April, 2019.
  24. Sarfare, S., Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., Belwadi, A., “Comparative Responses of the PIPER 6YO Human Body Model and the Q6 ATD for Simulated Frontal and Lateral Impacts,” presented at the 62nd Stapp Car Crash Conference, San Diego, CA, USA, 12-14 November, 2018.
  25. Belwadi, A., Maheshwari, J., “Biomechanical Responses of Pediatric Occupants in Non-Standard Seating Position,” presented at the 46th International Workshop on Human Subjects for Biomechanical Research, San Diego, CA, USA, 11 November, 2018.
  26. Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., Sarfare, S., Belwadi, A., “Evaluating the Response of the PIPER Scalable Human Body Model Across Newer Child Restraining Seats in Simulated Frontal Crashes,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 62nd Annual Scientific Conference, Nashville, TN, USA, 7-10 October, 2018.
  27. Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., Belwadi, A., “Effects of Varying Vehicle D-ring Position on Pediatric ATD Installed on Booster Child Seats in Simulated Frontal Crashes,” presented at 8th World Congress of Biomechanics, Dublin, Ireland, 8-12 July, 2018.
  28. Belwadi, A., Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., “Comparative Responses of the 6-Year-Old Pediatric Human Body Model in Frontal Motor Vehicle Crashes,” presented at 8th World Congress of Biomechanics, Dublin, Ireland, 8-12 July, 2018.
  29. Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., “Efficacy of Seatbelt Routing Schemes on Newer Booster Child Seats in Simulated Frontal Motor Vehicle Crashes,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 61st Annual Scientific Conference - Student Symposium, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 15-18 October, 2017.
  30. Maheshwari, J., Damodaran, M., “Computational Modeling of Small Energy Harvester Subjected to Aeroelastic Instabilities,” presented at and in Mechanics of Solids, Fluids and Materials, Proceedings of the 2nd INCAM-2015 at IIT Delhi, India, 13-15 July, 2015.

Poster Presentations

  1. Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., “A Pilot Study Evaluating the 3-Point and 4-Point Restraint System for Pediatric Occupants in Non-Standard Seating Positions,” presented at the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM), 63rd Annual Scientific Conference, Madrid, Spain, 15-18 October, 2019.
  2. Tushak, S., Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., “The Development of PIPER 18MO Child Human Body Model and Its Response to Frontal Vehicle Impacts,” presented at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) 2018 Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, USA, 17-20 October, 2018.
  3. Duong, N., Maheshwari, J., Fein, S., Belwadi, A., “Efficacy of booster seat design on the response of the 6-year-old crash test dummy in simulated frontal and oblique sled impacts,” presented at 8th World Congress of Biomechanics, Dublin, Ireland, 8-12 July, 2018.
  4. Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., “Simulated Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Impacts to the Pediatric Head,” presented at 14th Annual Injury Biomechanics Symposium, Columbus, OH, USA, 20-22 May, 2018.
  5. Maheshwari, J., Duong, N., Belwadi, A., “Pediatric ATDs in Simulated Frontal Crashes,” presented at 44th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 28-30 March, 2018.
  6. Sarfare, S., Maheshwari, J., Belwadi, A., “Injury Implications in Children from Simulated Autonomous Aerial Vehicle Impacts,” presented at 44th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA, 28-30 March, 2018.

Contact

jalajm@alumni.upenn.edu

jalajmaheshwari1993@gmail.com