About Me
I am a PhD candidate at the Univeristy of California Santa Barbara specializing in dynamical systems, control theory, and applied mathematics. My current research focuses on optimal control of density-based systems, with applications in fluid and stochastic systems and swarm robotics.
I received my BS in Mechanical Engineering from California Polytechnic State Univeristy in 2020. During this time, I worked in the Boundary Layer Data System (BLDS) Lab under the supervision of Dr. Russel Westphal. I received my MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2022, working in the Dynamical Systems and Controls Lab under the supervision of Dr. Bassam Bamieh. I started my PhD under Dr. Bamieh in 2022.
I have also completed industry internships with Panasonic Avionics in 2017 and Tesla in 2021. I received the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship in 2024.
In my free time, I enjoy rock climbing, surfing, mountain biking, backpacking, traveling, guitar, music, and philosophy.
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May 2025: I received our department’s Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award (news article).
Mar 2025: We just submitted a new paper, titled “Incompressible Optimal Transport and Applications in Fluid Mixing”, to the 64th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (preprint).
Dec 2024: I presented our paper “Causal Tracking of Distributions in Wasserstein Space: A Model Predictive Control Scheme” at the 63rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (slides).
Nov 2024: I presented a talk at the 44th Southern California Control Workshop titled “Tracking Control in the Wasserstein Space” (slides).
Oct 2024: I have been working with several other students to set up a new departmental graduate student association, and we just became official.
Sep 2024: This quarter, I will be developing and instructing ME 500, a new TA training course for our department (syllabus).
Aug 2024: I presented a talk at the 26th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems titled “Optimal Control of Distributions in Wasserstein Space” (slides).
July 2024: We just submitted a new paper, titled “Optimal Assignment and Motion Control in Two-class Continuum Swarms”, to the IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems (preprint).
Jun 2024: I received the National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship (news article.
Mar 2024: We just submitted a new paper, titled “Causal Tracking of Distributions in Wasserstein Space: A Model-Predictive Control Scheme”, to the 63rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (preprint).
Mar 2024: I passed my candidacy exam and advanced to candidate status.
Dec 2023: I presented our paper “Continuum Swarm Tracking Control: A Geometric Perspective in Wasserstein Space” at the 62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (slides). The paper was awarded an Outstanding Student Paper Award at the conference.
Oct 2023: I received our department’s Best Teaching Assistant Award.
Apr 2023: I accepted the position of Lead Teaching Assistant for the UCSB Mechanical Engineering Department. In this role, I will be helping develop and administer a new TA training program for our graduate students.
Mar 2023: We submitted a new paper, titled “Continuum Swarm Tracking Control: A Geometric Perspective in Wasserstein Space” to the 62nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (preprint).
Sep 2022: I received my MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California Santa Barbara and will be starting my PhD in the same lab.
July 2022: I presented our paper “Optimal Combined Motion and Assignments with Continuum Models” at the 9th IFAC Conference on Networked Systems (slides,recording). The paper wwas awarded the IFAC Young Author Award at the conference.
Feb 2022: We submitted a new paper, titled “Optimal Combined Motion and Assignments with Continuum Models”, to the 9th IFAC Conference on Networked Systems.