Research Group

Negin Musavi

Negin received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where she was a research assistant at the Coordinated Science Laboratory under the supervision of Professor Geir E. Dullerud. Her research lies at the intersection of control theory, learning, and system identification, with a focus on developing theoretical guarantees for algorithms used in learning dynamical systems.

In her free time, she enjoys creating ceramic pieces.

Pranay Thangeda

Pranay is a 0% Department Affiliate with the Department of Aerospace Engineering, in parallel with his full-time position at Amazon Robotics. He completed his PhD thesis, titled “Real-World Autonomy in Uncertain and Unknown Environments”, in our group in 2025, and also received his MSc from our group in 2020.

Pranay’s interests lie in the areas of decision making under uncertainty, learning and autonomy. Currently, he is working on problems in reinforcement learning, multi-agent coordination, and robotic navigation. Pranay spends his free time on photography, baking, and traveling.

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Gokul Puthumanaillam

Gokul is a PhD student in aerospace engineering. He completed his bachelor’s degree in ECE, with a minor in computational mathematics, from Manipal Institute of Technology. His current research emphasizes decision making and planning for long-term autonomous tasks in probabilistic settings for robotics. He is particularly interested in algorithmic approaches to reasoning that enhance high-level planning across a variety of contexts and challenges.

Besides research, he spends most of his free time reading books, playing badminton and competitive chess. He is passionate about developing software for hardware and open-source contributions.

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Ram Padmanabhan

Ram is a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering. He graduated with an MSc from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he worked on analyzing the effect of varying step sizes on the convergence of first-order optimization algorithms. Ram’s research interests lie broadly at the intersection of control and learning, particularly involving optimization. He is currently working on resilience, safety and optimal control for systems whose dynamics are affected by adversaries.

In his free time, Ram spends “a little too much time on YouTube” (in his own words!), and enjoys watching the occasional Formula 1 race on weekends. He plays the veena (an Indian stringed instrument), is an avid mobile photographer, plays badminton and enjoys cycling.

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Manav Vora

Manav is a PhD student in aerospace engineering, with a primary research interest in using learning methods in robotics and controls. During his undergraduate studies at IIT Bombay, Manav had worked on controller design for drones as well as on various neural network architectures to help achieve robust control via learning. Currently, sequential decision making and reinforcement learning is a research avenue that interests him the most.

His hobbies include learning about, playing and watching sports. He is a huge cricket enthusiast and loves traveling and visiting new places.

Zhiquan Zhang

Zhiquan is a PhD student in electrical and computer engineering. He graduated with an MS from the University of Pennsylvania, working on safe passive torque controllers for manipulators with analytical and data-driven boundary functions. In the past, he also worked on adaptive dynamic programming and event-triggered control. Broadly speaking, he is interested in system resilience and learning for control, and contributing to robotic applications.

Besides research, he spends time playing table tennis and badminton. He also listens to classical music and play classical guitar for fun and to relax.

Sihang Wei

Sihang is a PhD student in aerospace engineering, co-advised by Prof. Hiroyasu Tsukamoto. He graduated with a dual master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was conducting research in data-driven decision-making approaches in the context of integrating weather considerations in Urban Air Mobility operations. Sihang’s research interests lie in the area of learning methods in control, decision-making under uncertainty and autonomous systems.

Sihang has a diverse range of interests that add excitement to life. A passionate wine enthusiast, he has a particular fondness for Burgundy. A self-proclaimed thrill-seeker, he finds joy in the world of motorsports. He enjoys sports car racing, rally racing, and motorcycling. When not immersed in research or motorsports, Sihang loves to explore the great outdoors. Traveling, hiking, kayaking, and overlanding are among his favorite activities. He also plans to get his private pilot license soon!

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Hrishav Das

Hrishav is a PhD student in aerospace engineering. He graduated with a BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in 2025, where he focused on control and autonomy in aerospace systems.

Hrishav’s research interests lie at the intersection of data-driven methods and control, with a particular emphasis on aerial robotics. He enjoys working on problems that blend learning-based approaches with mathematically grounded tools from optimization.

Outside of research, Hrishav plays the piano and enjoys mixing and composing music. He also plays football (or soccer, as he’s learning to call it!) and is always up for a weekend game.

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William Schafer

Will graduated with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering at UIUC, with an interest in control, autonomy, robotics, and systems engineering. He is continuing with a professional master’s degree (MEng) in autonomy and robotics. Motivated by his desire to explore those fields, Will joined in on the ongoing development of Condynsate, a user-friendly software for simulating robotics and autonomous systems. There, Will has developed a multitude of autonomous system simulations including various robotic arms, drones, and an autonomous car. He continues to research and expand these simulations for other terrestrial and aerial vehicles, aiming to learn while exploring his interests and providing value to the broader engineering community. Will plans to further his education in robotics and autonomy whilst researching optimized decision logic under uncertainty.

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Ruben Hernandez

Ruben is a Master’s (MEng) student in autonomy and robotics. He earned his BS in aerospace engineering at UIUC, where he worked on projects ranging from designing an LQR-based controller for a quadrotor drone with varying payloads to developing autonomous navigation for a GEM E2 vehicle. At LEADCAT, Ruben has programmed a Crazyflie drone that is being used in multiple experiments across the group. His research interests lie at the intersection of hardware, software, and theory, with a particular focus on planning and localization for mobile robotics in uncertain environments. He is motivated by the challenge of developing autonomy that is both theoretically grounded and practically deployable on real platforms.

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Jonas Liang

Jonas is a junior majoring in mathematics and statistics. He studies decision theory, optimization, game theory, and causal inference, seeking to connect analytical rigor with practical applications. Jonas is enthusiastic about interdisciplinary collaboration and is particularly interested in addressing challenges at the nexus of theory and practical decision-making. Outside of academia, he is an avid concert-goer and traveler.