People

Faculty

Sean B. Andersson, Ph.D.

Photo of John Baillieul

Assistant Professor

Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park

phone: (617) 353-4949
email: s a n d e r s s @b u . e d u
websites: personal lab
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 421

Research Interests

scanning probe microscopy * dynamics in nanometer-scale systems * symbolic control * robotics

Professor Andersson believes the potential of scanning probe microscopy has not yet been realized. His current work in this area focuses on bringing systems and control theory to bear in atomic force and confocal laser scanning microscopies with the goal of extending the domain of applicability of these technologies deeper into the realm of dynamic processes.

In symbolic control and robotics, his research is aimed at developing methods for handling the complexity of robots operating in real-world environments. Ongoing work includes the use of symbols to tokenize both the environment and the controls as well as efforts to handle the stochastic nature of actuators and sensors. He is also interested in cooperative approaches based on a symbolic framework of control.

Prof. Andersson received the NSF CAREER award in 2008.

John Baillieul, Ph.D.

Photo of John Baillieul

Professor

Ph.D., Harvard University

phone: (617) 353-9848
email: johnb@bu.edu
website: people.bu.edu/johnb
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 323

Research Interests

Robotics * Control of mechanical systems * Mathematical system theory * Information-based control theory

Professor Baillieul focuses on robotics, the control of mechanical systems, and mathematical system theory. His work in the late 1980’s led to seminal papers on motion planning for kinematically redundant manipulators. Earlier work on nonlinear optimal control theory foreshadowed much of the current literature on singular Riemannian geometry. Current research focuses on extending and applying principles from nonlinear control theory to complex mechanical systems composed of interconnected rigid and elastic components.

Dr. Baillieul has developed a laboratory system for experiments involving real-time control of mechanical systems, research fundamental to the design of lightweight, high-performance manipulator arms and other advanced robotic devices. He also investigates geometric effects in nonlinear rotational mechanics, with potential applications in stabilization and vibration suppression in rotating machinery, and the theory of control and motion planning for mechanical systems with relatively few actuators for the control of a large number of degrees of freedom.

A Fellow of the IEEE, he is the former editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. He is also affiliated with Boston University’s Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE).

Calin Belta, Ph.D.

Photo of Calin Belta

Associate Professor

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

phone: (617) 353-9586
email: cbelta@bu.edu
website: iasi.bu.edu/~cbelta
office: 730 Commonwealth Avenue, ENA 220

Research Interests

Verification and control of dynamical systems * Hybrid systems * Symbolic control * Robot motion planning and control * Gene and metabolic networks

Calin Belta’s interests are in control and systems theory, with a focus on phenomena that occur when continuous dynamics, described by systems of differential equations, are combined with discrete dynamics, modeled as automata or state transition graphs. Such systems are called hybrid, and examples range from man-made systems such as mobile robots, to naturally occurring systems such as biochemical networks. His approach to the analysis and control of such systems combine concepts and tools from control theory, theory of computation, and formal verification. The current application areas in his Hybrid and Networked Systems (HyNeSs) Lab are networked mobile robotics, swarming, gene networks, and genome scale metabolic analysis.

Calin Belta is a member of the IEEE and an Associate Editor for the SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization (SICON) and for the RAS and CSS Conference Editorial Boards. He received the AFOSR Young Investigator Award in 2008 and the NSF CAREER Award in 2005.

Hua Wang, Ph.D.

Photo of Hua Wang

Associate Professor

Ph.D., University of Maryland

phone: (617) 353-8860

email: wangh@bu.edu
office: 15 St. Mary’s Street, EMB 128

Research Interests

Control of nonlinear phenomena and bifurcations

Professor Wang is an expert in nonlinear control and in particular in the control of systems having complex nonlinear dynamics. He is also affiliated with Boston University’s Center for Information and Systems Engineering (CISE).

Kenn Sebesta, Ph.D.

Research Engineer

Ph.D., Université du Luxembourg

phone: (617) 353-6690

email: kenn@bu.edu
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 325

Research Interests

Controls
Real-time
System modeling

Dr. Sebesta received his PhD in the fields of Optimal Control and Optimal Observation. His interests are in bringing theoretical controls to real hardware. He is also affiliated with the University of Luxembourg Computer Science and Communications Research Unit (CSC).

Dimitar Baronov, Ph. D.

Postdoctoral Associate

Ph.D., Boston University

email: baronov@bu.edu
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 337

Research Interests

Control of nonlinear phenomena and bifurcations

Dr. Baronov received his Bachelor’s degree from Technical University – Sofia in Bulgaria in 2004. He subsequently came to Boston University where he obtained a PhD in Aerospace Engineering in 2010. During his time at BU, Dr. Baronov won the Boston University Graduate Engineering Entrepreneurial Design Competition with Drs. Lock and Ning. His dissertation examined robotic reconnaissance and human decision making, and introduced a novel approach to quantifying information flows in deterministic scenarios. The resulting theoretical framework has found applications in a variety of fields, including the evaluation of human decision making and strategic robotic information acquisition. Dr. Baronov has organized several invited conference sessions to popularize recent advances in robotic perception and data fusion

Students

Ryan G. Hunter

B.S. Computer Engineering, Boston University

email: rghunter@bu.edu
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 337

Research Interests

Ryan Hunter is a computer systems engineering candidate at Boston University and is pursuing a minor in business administration. He is the co-founder and CEO of TR Aeronautics and has a great deal of experience with embedded systems design. Ryan is currently the President of the Boston University Unmanned Aerial vehicles group and is overseeing a project to design build and fly a fully autonomous aerial vehicle with the mission capability to penetrate a mock security facility. As an undergraduate research assistant and the Boston University Intelligent Mechatronics Lab, Ryan has a great deal of experience with real time software development.

Kayhan Özcimder

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Gazi University (Ankara/Turkey)

email: kayhan@bu.edu
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 337

Research Interests

Hasan Kayhan Ozcimder earned his B.S. degree (Mechanical Engineering) in Gazi University in Ankara/Turkey. He is a recipient of a scholarship from the Turkish Ministry of Education to start his academic career in the United States. He is currently in a Masters program but pursuing his PhD. degree in mechanical engineering at Boston University. He has been working on Control Communication Complexity of distributed control models and action based communication protocols for multi-agent autonomous systems.
As a member of Intelligent Mechatronics Laboratory, Kayhan is specialized on control theory and its applications to various systems.

Dane Sarcone

B.S. Aerospace Engineering, Boston University

email: dsarcone@gmail.com
office: 110 Cummington Street, ENG 337

Research Interests

Dane Sarcone is an Aerospace Engineering Senior at the Boston University College of Engineering. He is the Vice President of the BU Rocket Team and has also been its Data Acquisition and Control (DAC) team leader for three years. His DAC work includes designing a complete sensor network to measure, collect, and display real-time data of a static hybrid rocket motor testbed. Besides acquiring data he has also designed a control system to safely control the rocket throughout testing. Dane is also the Vice President of the BU Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Team and the its Flight Platform team leader, where he has designed and flown a semi-autonomous quad-rotor UAV. In addition, he is the President of the BU American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Chapter. In his free time he likes to tinker with off-the-shelf autonomous RC vehicles.