Research Group

Yiming Meng

Yiming is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Coordinated Science Laboratory. Before joining UIUC, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Waterloo, where he collaborated with Prof. Jun Liu. He received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Waterloo in October 2022, advised by Prof. Jun Liu and Prof. N. Sri Namachchivaya. His research addresses intelligent control synthesis for nonlinear dynamical systems operating in uncertain environments.

Yiming spends his free time listening to well-arranged music, particularly favoring bass and classical genres. He also used to be a semi-professional swimmer at a young age. Now, he swims to stay fit.

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Pranay Thangeda

Pranay just defended his PhD thesis, titled “Real-World Autonomy in Uncertain and Unknown Environments”, in aerospace engineering. He received his MSc from our group with the thesis titled “Efficient Learning and Planning Using Spatial Side Information”.

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

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Taha Shafa

Taha is a PhD student in aerospace engineering. He graduated with a dual master’s degree in electrical engineering and robotics from Arizona State University, where he was involved in design of a bipedal roadrunner robot.

Taha’s current work is on guaranteed reachability for partially unknown nonlinear systems. He is originally from the Boston area, and believes that, contrary to what you might hear, as nice as the seafood from Boston is, their cheesesteaks are better. He plays tennis and used to play the saxophone.

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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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Elena Fernández Bravo

Elena is a PhD student in aerospace engineering, advised by Prof. James Allison, and affiliated with our group for a project on sensitivity of optimal controllers on the problem parameters. She completed her MSc degree in spacecraft design at Luleå University of Technology in 2021, where she worked on attitude control of flexible spacecraft.

Elena’s current work is on integrated physical and control system design (co-design) optimization methods. In her free time, she likes to read fantasy books and travel.

Will Song

Will is an undergraduate student in aerospace engineering who until recently taught as a UAV/Drone Assistant Instructor at the Army Intelligence School in South Korea. During his time there, he developed an interest in multi-agent systems and swarm algorithms and is looking to further explore the field as an undergrad. During his free time, Will likes to work on his home media server and read sci-fi novels.

William Schafer

Will is an undergraduate student in aerospace engineering with an interest in control, autonomy, robotics, and systems engineering. 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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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.

Sanjay Manoj

Sanjay is graduating from a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science (May 2025), and further pursing a Master’s degree in Mathematics from UIUC. His research interests include optimization, geometry, and topology, and particularly how these areas intersect to solve complex problems in abstract geometrical settings. Currently, he is working on the p-dispersion problem for non-convex polygons in three dimensions. Outside of academics, Sanjay enjoys playing board games (especially chess!), practicing taekwondo, and watching basketball.

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