VT People
Dr. Kevin Kochersberger is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech. Prior to becoming lead researcher at the Uncrewed Systems Lab (USL) in 2006, he worked at McDonnell Douglas, IBM, and the Rochester Institute of Technology (Mechanical Engineering) for 12 years.
Focusing his work on design, perception and planning of autonomous systems, Dr. Kevin has investigated aerial radiation mapping, online 3D terrain reconstruction, and novel mission-specific aircraft design. Most recently, he is programmatic lead for the UNICEF funded African Drone and Data Academy (ADDA).
Dr. Ella Atkins is Fred D. Durham Professor and Head of the Kevin T. Crofton Aerospace and Ocean Engineering Department at Virginia Tech. She was previously a Professor in the University of Michigan’s Aerospace Engineering and Robotics Departments. She is an AIAA Fellow and private pilot. She served on the National Academy’s Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and has authored over 220 refereed journal and conference papers.
Dr. Atkins has pursued research in AI-enabled autonomy and control to support resilience and contingency management in manned and unmanned aerospace applications. She is Editor-in-Chief of the AIAA Journal of Aerospace Information Systems (JAIS) and a member of the Flight Safety Foundation's Autonomous and Remotely Piloted Aviation Systems Advisory Committee (ARPAC).
Dr. Craig Woolsey is a Professor in the Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. His research interests are in the nonlinear dynamics and control of ocean and atmospheric vehicles. Areas of expertise include Lyapunov-based nonlinear control, nonlinear guidance, path/trajectory planning, vision-based control, biomimetic locomotion, multi-body dynamics, and unmanned system reliability.
A unifying theme is the development of energy-based nonlinear guidance and control methods that enable effective vehicle operation over a broad performance envelope.
Dr. Mazen Farhood is an Associate Professor in the Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. His current research interests include security and formal verification of autonomous systems, controlled maneuvers and tracking along trajectories, motion planning of agile vehicles, cooperative control of multi-vehicle systems, and model complexity reduction. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 2014.
Dr. Andrea L’Afflitto is an assistant professor at the Grado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Virginia Tech. His current research interests include nonlinear robust control and optimal control with application to aerial robots such as VTOL UAVs and autonomous aircraft equipped with robotic manipulators. In 2018, he received the DARPA Young Faculty Award.
