My Group

Postdoctoral Fellows

Tigran Bakaryan (2023 – present)
Sheng Cheng (2021– present)
Aditya Gahlawat (2018 – present)

Graduate Students

Sambhu Harimanas (MS student, expected graduation 2023)
Christophe Hiltebrandt-McIntosh (MS student, expected graduation 2023)
Ran Tao (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2026)
Christoph Aoun (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2026)
Sitao Zhang (MS student, expected graduation 2022)
Ziyao Guo (Ph.D student, expected graduation 2026)
Vivek Sharma (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2026)
Min Jun Sung (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2026)
Erin Swansen (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2025)
Yuliang Gu (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2025)
Lin Song (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2025)
Jing Wu (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2024)
Chuyuan Tao (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2024)
Yikun Cheng (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2024)
Hyungsoo Kang (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2024)
Zhuohuan Wu (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2023)
Wenbin Wan (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2023)
Neng Wan (Ph.D. student, expected graduation 2022)

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Fred Kehang Chang (ECE, UIUC)
Francisco Canillas Negrete (Polytechnic University of Valencia, exchange student)
Sameer Sharma (Math, UIUC)
Jad Faraj (MechSE, UIUC)
Chenghao Duan (ECE, UIUC)
Mrunal Sarvaiya (MechSE, UIUC)

Visiting Scholars

Janne Koivumaki, Tampere University of Technology, Finland (2018 – present)

Former Ph.D. Students

Venanzio Cichella (May 2018, Dissertation “Cooperative Autonomous Systems: Motion Planning and Coordination for Multi-Vehicle Missions”), currently on faculty of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa city, IA
Hanmin Lee (May 2017, Dissertation “L₁ Adaptive Control for Nonlinear and Non-square Multivariable Systems”), currently employed by Korean Ministry of Defense, Seoul, South Korea
Syed Bilal Mehdi (April 2017, Dissertation “Collision Avoidance for Multi-vehicle Cooperative Missions”), currently employed by General Motors, MI
Ronald Choe (November 2016, Dissertation “Distributed Cooperative Trajectory Generation for Multiple Autonomous Vehicles using Pythagorean Hodograph Bézier Curves”), currently working on his startup company
Evgeny Kharisov (August 2013, Dissertation “L₁ Adaptive Output Feedback Control Architectures”), currently employed by Seagate, MN
Hui Sun (July 2013, UIUC, Dissertation “L₁ Adaptive Control with Quantization and Delay”), currently employed by Marvell Semicondutor, Inc., CA
Zhiyuan Li (July 2013, UIUC, Dissertation “Guidance, Control and Estimation of Autonomous Vehicles”), currently employed by DJI, CA
Enric Xargay (May 2013, UIUC, Dissertation “Time-Critical cooperative Path-Following Control of Multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”), currently working on his startup company
Dapeng Li (March 2011, UIUC, Dissertation “Closed-Loop Analysis and Feedback Design in the Presence of Limited Information”), currently employed by JD, CA
Jiang Wang (February 2009, Virginia Tech, Dissertation “Verifiable Adaptive Control Solutions for Flight Control Applications”), currently employed by Apple, CA
Amanda Dippold (May 2009, Virginia Tech, Dissertation “Vision-based Obstacle Avoidance of Multiple Vehicles Performing Time-critical Missions”), currently employed as adjunct faculty by Howard Community College, Columbia, MD
Vahram Stepanyan (August 2006, Virginia Tech, Dissertation “Vision based Guidance and Flight Control in Problems of Aerial Tracking”), currently employed as senior research scientist at NASA Ames Research Center
Kwang-Ki Kim (2009-2010, UIUC, moved to MIT in fall of 2010), currently postdoctoral fellow at KAUST
Mohammad Naghnaeian (2010-2011, moved to a different group), currently postdoctoral fellow at MIT
Aditya Paranjape (2007-2009, VT, UIUC) currently employed as lecturer in Imperial College, London, UK

Former MS Students

Ziyao Guo (MS student, spring 2021, non-thesis), currently pursuing Ph.D. at UIUC
Pulkit Rustagi (MS student, spring 2021, non-thesis)
Chuyuan Tao (MS student, spring 2020, non-thesis, UIUC), currently pursuing Ph.D. at UIUC
Jing Wu (MEng, spring 2020, independent project “Visual and Auditory Based Model for Emotion Detection”) currently pursuing D. program in UIUC
Gabriel Haberfeld Barsi (MS, fall 2017, Dissertation “Design and Control of a Compact Aerial Manipulation System with a Delta-Type Parallel Robot”), currently pursuing Ph.D. at UIUC
Andrew Patterson (MS, spring 2017, Dissertation “System Identification for Development of Distributed Electric Propulsion Vertical Take-off Vehicles”), currently pursuing Ph.D. at UIUC
Robert Mitchell Jones (MS, spring 2017, Dissertation “Aerial Manipulation for Indoor Applications”), currently with GreenSight Agronomics, Boston, MA
Arun Lakshmanan (MS, fall 2016, Dissertation “Piecewise Bezier Curve Trajectory Generation and Control of Quadrotors”), currently pursuing Ph.D. at UIUC
Charles Orozco (MS, fall 2016, non-thesis, UIUC), currently with Fermilab of Department of Energy
Joseph Cottrell (MS, fall 2015, non-thesis, UIUC), currently with Baker Hughes, Houston, TX
Jan Vervoorst (MS, spring 2016, IESE UIUC, Dissertation “A Modular Simulation Environment for the Improved Dynamic Simulation of Multirotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”), currently with Ascending Technologies, Munich, Germany
Wu Xiong (MS, spring 2015, non-thesis, AE UIUC), currently with robotics startup, San Francisco, CA
Mohammad Aneeq Zaman (MS, summer 2015, UIUC, Dissertation “An Efficient Way for Path Planning of Cooperative Autonomously Soaring Gliders”), currently pursuing Ph.D. at UIUC
Mustafa Mukadam (MS, summer 2014, AE UIUC, non-thesis), currently pursuing Ph.D. at Georgia Tech
Thidarat Chongvisal (MS, spring 2014, UIUC, Dissertation “Pilot-in-the-loop simulated flight tests of a Loss-of-Control Prediction and Prevention System for NASA’s Transport Class Model”), currently with Schlumberger, Houston, TX
Kasey Ackerman (MS, summer 2014, UIUC, Dissertation “Flight Simulator Development for Pilot-in-the-Loop testing using NASA’s Transport Class Model”), currently Ph.D. student in UIUC
Steven Pelech (MS, spring 2013, UIUC, Dissertation “Integration of the GTM T2 Model into a Full Sized Simulator for Human-in-the-Loop Testing”), currently with Raytheon, Tuscon, AZ
Syed Bilal Mehdi (MS, fall 2012, UIUC, Dissertation “Simulink Toolbox for L₁ Adaptive Control Theory”), currently Ph.D. student in UIUC
Brian Jamison (MS, summer 2012, UIUC), currently with The Boeing Co.
Justin Vanness (MS, spring 2012, UIUC, Dissertation “Two Extensions to L₁ Adaptive Control Theory”), currently with Sandia National Labs, Oakland, CA
David Caballero (MS, spring 2012, UIUC), currently pursuing Ph.D. degree at University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Alan Gostin (MS, spring 2010, UIUC, Dissertation “A MatLab Based Toolbox for the Simulation and Design of L₁ Adaptive Controllers”), currently with NASA Goddard
Tyler Leman (MS, fall 2009, UIUC, Dissertation “L₁ Adaptive Control Augmentation System for the X-48B Aircraft”), currently employed by IntelinAir
Riju John (MS, fall 2009, Virginia Tech, non-thesis option)
Amanda Young (MS, spring 2006, Virginia Tech, Dissertation “Adaptive Control of Nonaffine Systems with Applications to Flight Control”: awarded William Preston Society MS Thesis award, one award per year for the University in sciences and engineering)
Amir Ajami (MS, fall 2005, Virginia Tech, Dissertation “Adaptive Flight Control in the Presence of Input Constraints”), currently with the Boeing Co.

Former Postdoctoral Fellows and Research Staff

Pan Zhao (2018 – 2023), currently on faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL
Hunmin Kim (2018 – 2022), currently on faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Mercer University, Macon, GA
Yanbing Mao (2019-2022), Currently on faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Hamidreza Jafarnejadsani (2019, January – August), currently on faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, Haboken, NJ
Donghwan Lee (2017-2018), currently working at CSL, UIUC
Dr. Enric Xargay (2013-2015), currently working on his startup company in Spain
Dr. Xiaofeng Wang (2009-2012), currently on the faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern Carolina
Dr. Chengyu Cao (2004-2008), currently on the faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut
Dr. Lili Ma (2005-2008), currently on the faculty of Department of Electronics & Mechanical Engineering, Wentworth Institute of Technology
Dr. Amol Sasane (2003-2004), currently on the faculty of London School of Economics
Dr. Ilhan Tuzcu (2003-2004) (postdoctoral fellow), currently on the faculty of University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Dr. Konda Reddy (2005-2006), currently with UTRC
Dr. Vijay Patel (2006-2007), currently in India

Former Visiting Scholars

Shengye Zhu (George Washington University, USA, 05/16/2021-08/15/2021)
Han Hua (MechSE, ZJU-UIUC, 03/03/2020 – 07/15/2020)
Sibylla Hong (Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, 06/01/2020-08/31/2020)
Zhouzhenyan Hong, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China (07/01/2020-09/30/2020)
Jinglan Li, Zhejiang University, China (11/01/2018 – 11/01/2019)
Jiaojiao Fan, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (07/01/2019-12/01/2019)
Yanbing Mao, Binghamton University – State University of New York (10/01/2018 – 01/31/2019)
Weichen Dai, Zhejiang University, China (10/25/2018 – 1/25/2019)
Janne Koivumaki, Tampere University of Technology, Finland (May 2018 – November 2018)
Francisco Canillas Negrete(Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, September 2017 – May 2018)
Asensio Lorenzo Sempere (Polytechnic University of Valencia, Spain, September 2017 – May 2018)
Kristian Sloth Lauszus (Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark, August-December 2016)
Yinglong Sun (Rice University, Houston, TX)
Jens Dodenhöft (Technical University of Munich, Germany, 2015-2016)
Lucas de Silva Moreira (University of Texas El-Paso, USA)
Ya-Yen Tsai (University of Melbourne, Australia)
Sijia Liu (Beijing Jiaotong University, China, 2014-2015)
Tao Chao (Harbin Institute of Technology, China, 2013-2014)
Magnus Bichlmeier (Technical University of Munich, Germany, 2012-2014)
Nikolas Tekles (Technical University of Munich, Germany, 2012-2014)
Danyong Li (Beijing Jiaotong University, China, 2012-2013)
Dianwei Qian (North China Electric Power University, 2012-2013)
Jie Ma (Beijing Information Science & Technology University, China, 2013)
Helena Vogel (MS student, Stuttgart University, Germany, 2012)
Hessam Mahdianfar (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2012-2013)
Giulio Avanzini (Professor, University of Salento, Italy, 2012)
Michael Christensen (MS student, Technical University of Denmark, 2012)
Marinho Thiago (MS student, Ecole Centrale de Lille, France, 2011)
Markus Geiser (MS student, Munich Institute of Technology, Germany, 2010)
Sung-Jin Yoo (postdoctoral fellow, Korea, 2009-2010)
Irene Piacenza (MS student, Politechnic of Turin, Italy, 2009-2010)
Elisa Capello (Ph.D. student, Politechnic of Turin, Italy, summer –fall 2009)
Bruno Guerreiro, ISR, IST, Lisbon, Portugal, Spring 2007, 2008 (MS 2008, Dissertation “L₁ Adaptive Control for Helicopter”)
Mikhail Poda-Razumtsev, Munich Technical University, Germany, Fall 2003- Spring 2004 (MS 2004, Dissertation “Analysis of Parameter Convergence in System Identification and Adaptive Control”)
Michael Buhl, Munich Technical University, Germany Spring 2004 (MS 2004, Dissertation “Investigation of Adaptive Control Strategies”)
Michael Herrnberger, Munich Technical University, Germany, Fall 2004 (MS 2004, Dissertation “Adaptive Vision-based Flight Control combined with Own-ship Maneuvers for Range Estimation”)