My teaching integrates rigorous systems theory with hands-on engineering practice, often drawing
from biological sensing and locomotion to motivate modeling, estimation, and feedback control.
A multidisciplinary master’s program drawing on Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering,
Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, and Applied Math & Statistics.
An interdisciplinary undergraduate minor emphasizing: (1) robot kinematics & dynamics,
(2) systems theory / signal processing / control, and (3) computation & sensing.
Mathematical and physical foundations of robotics: rigid motions; forward/inverse/differential kinematics;
mechanics of open kinematic chains; and control.
Beginning graduate course in linear systems theory with an emphasis on a linear-algebraic perspective.
Fundamental approaches to system identification (spectral, prediction error, subspace, adaptive/online),
emphasizing LTI systems with selected nonlinear extensions.
How physical laws and feedback shape biological function and behavior—especially animal locomotion and
its control—connecting mechanics to stability, adaptation, and sensing in natural environments.
Mechanics and control of locomotion: modeling (e.g., Lagrangian/gray-box), dynamical systems
(nonholonomic systems, Poincaré/Floquet), design (control synthesis, mechanical design),
and analysis of animal locomotor-control experiments.
Modeling, control, and adaptation in human and robotic bipedal locomotion, including hybrid dynamics,
limit cycles, and formal treatments of feedback control for walking and running.
Classical mechanics of particles and rigid bodies: kinematics and kinetics, energy and momentum,
and an introduction to vibration.
Laboratory companion to EN.530.202 (Dynamics).
Laboratory-based introduction to analog electronics and instrumentation for mechanical engineering,
with interdisciplinary labs and examples drawn from biological sensing.
Modeling and analysis of vibration in linear dynamical systems; introduction to stability and control.
Modeling and hands-on use of actuators and sensors (motors, encoders/resolvers, sonar),
integrated into mechatronic systems using microcontrollers.
Signature final project: molecular gastronomy collaboration with Chef Jerry Pellegrino.
Watch the project video
Weekly lectures, practice problems, and sample code introducing feedback control of mechanical systems
with an emphasis on applying control concepts in biological research.
A hands-on mini-course connecting engineering and mathematics to skill acquisition: students learn
the science of juggling and the craft of juggling itself.
