I am an assistant professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with cross-appointments (0%) to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Coordinated Science Laboratory, and an affiliate position at the Discovery Partners Institute in Chicago.

My loyalties broadly lie with control and autonomy; my students and I compose the LEADCAT (LEArning, Decision, Control, AuTonomy) research group. At this time, I am most interested in the intersection of control and learning in complex environments. The broad question that I am exploring is: How to ensure safe behavior of systems operating in scenarios where only limited knowledge of the system and the environment is available?

Please visit my Research page to learn more about what I do. Apart from research, I take enormous joy in teaching. I am passionate about working with students and excited about learning and implementing novel approaches in education. Along with communicating technical material, I believe a primary job of an instructor is to support the students’ creativity, individuality, and well-being. Consequently, I am immensely proud to be a Faculty Mental Health Ambassador.

Students

I am currently interested in advising one or more incoming graduate students interested in systems control and learning. Please contact me if you wish to discuss further.