Penn Hyperloop becomes official university student organization after year of negotiations

Penn Hyperloop, a student team focused on developing reusable tunneling machines, has become officially affiliated with the University after a year of negotiations.

Since its establishment last year, Penn Hyperloop sought official recognition from the School of Engineering and Applied Science as an official student organization. The team is currently fundraising $135,000 to design and build a micro-tunnel boring machine for the Not-a-Boring Competition to be held in Bastrop, Texas in March 2025.

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The group was founded last year by 2024 college and engineering graduate Rishu Mohanka. Mohanka said he founded Penn Hyperloop with the goal of creating an environment at Penn that would mimic the fast-paced style of companies like SpaceX, where he interned for a summer.

“Going back to my senior year, I realized that Penn Engineering, which is great in the classroom, lacks the extra application,” Mohanka said. “We started (Penn Hyperloop) because it helped close the circle on Penn Engineering education. That way, we can get Penn engineers to be the best engineers in the world and ready to go, to go.”

1997 College and Wharton graduate Elon Musk founded The Boring Company, a tunnel construction company, to create a network of underground tunnels that could solve traffic and allow rapid point-to-point transportation. Hyperloop is a Boring Company project that aims to create an ultra-high-speed public transportation system with autonomous electric bridges that carry passengers at over 600 miles per hour.

The company runs the annual Not-a-Boring competition, inviting teams to design, build and race their own tunnel machines. Last year, the Penn Hyperloop went through two rounds of technical reviews and competed in the final event in Bastrop. The team built a fully functional tunnel boring machine with a small team of four engineers and no official Penn funding or affiliation.

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This year, Penn Hyperloop is led by Wharton and engineering senior Gabriel Zhang and plans to dig a 30-foot tunnel with a half-meter diameter. The project would require $135,000 to execute, with university affiliation required due to the scale of the project.

“We are proud to be Penn students. We want to proudly represent Penn at competitions and win competitions under a Penn affiliation,” Zhang said.

University Professor Andrea Mitchell and School of Engineering Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Robert Ghrist told The Daily Pennsylvanian that he was pleased to be able to recognize Penn Hyperloop as an official School of Engineering club.

“Hyperloop is operating in a direction that I think is unique among student organizations,” Ghrist said. “I think that uniqueness is probably why there have been some difficulties along the way.”

Last year, the project was funded primarily by venture capital that backed many of Musk’s other companies, as well as sponsors like Red Bull. The team hopes to build stronger and new relationships with Penn alumni and venture capitalists to raise funds for this year’s project.

Wharton School graduate student Ilia Kozhelskii circulated emails to alumni and potential venture capital firms that might be interested in sponsoring the Penn Hyperloop and looking for ways to keep costs down, which includes ongoing relationships with parts manufacturers. last year.

“It’s not just about procuring the parts, finding a space to build our boring machine and putting it all together and getting it to Texas when the time comes,” Kozhelskii said. “We can’t start buying parts and actually collecting the funds we’ve been promised until we establish ourselves as an official student organization at Penn.”

With the organization approved as an official School of Engineering student club, Penn Hyperloop is in the process of establishing a Penn-managed bank account to give it an official financial structure. However, the group is still waiting to receive dedicated space and is currently in conversation with the University to receive physical space to build their tunnel boring machine at Pennovation Works.

“Our team is celebrating this important milestone and we are grateful to the teachers and administration involved in the process,” said Kozhelskii. “However, this recognition does not come with any promise of physical space or funding from the University. Overcoming these challenges will require ongoing conversations that will not be easy.”

Engineering junior Zeno Dancanet, who is in his second year at Penn Hyperloop, said he prioritized the affiliation this semester and noted the disconnect between the team’s operating speed and the University’s processes.

“Hyperloop is a fast-paced club. We are a small team of people who get things done quickly and efficiently,” said Dancanet. “We understand that the University requires a lot of steps and communication to make things happen, so (we’ve) tried to be as patient as possible.”

Dancanet believes the hesitation to approve the Penn Hyperloop had to do with a lack of physical space — which was a emission for other student groups within the School of Engineering—and the amount of funding and resources it needed. He also noted the risk the University takes when it officially recognizes the organization. However, he believed that supporting students through clubs is to help students pursue their interests.

“Clubs should be here for students to reduce start-up costs when they want to start something new. They should support the students and make it easier for us by removing blockers,” Dancanet said.

Ghrist expressed similar thoughts, saying he’s “not entirely happy with the process as it is.”

“I think this Hyperloop situation has brought to light some things that are worth fixing,” he said. “That’s going to be high on my priority list is to have a little more uniform and transparent process.”