I am primarily interested in research at the intersection of control theory and micro systems. In modeling and control of micro flows for aerospace and bio-chemical applications. I focus on micro-scale applications where control can dramatically improve or allow new system capabilities. My goal is to demonstrate the pathway from initial application choice, to system modeling, phrasing of application goals as tractable control problems, control algorithm development, and experimental validation. My group does model based control design with validation via experiments. Roughly speaking, we do 50% modeling, 30% control design, and 20% fabrication and experiments.
Micro systems provide actuation and sensing capabilities on micrometer scales: a length that is commensurate with the size of micro-organisms and which allows direct access to biological phenomena. Control theory provides methods which allow intelligent fusion of sensor and actuator capabilities to perform complex tasks in the presence of noise and uncertainty. The marriage between the two areas is natural: micro-systems allow tremendous actuation and sensing capabilities but they have to deal with uncertain and largely unknown environments; control theory provides mathematical tools to design sensor/actuator combinations that will perform complex, coordinated tasks, but it requires novel hardware that can implement such decisions.
Current examples include modeling/control of devices with electrically actuated surface tension, modeling of component filling in micro-fluidic networks with thousands of components, modeling and optimization of micro conjugated polymer (conducting plastic) actuators, and steering control of single particles in micro-fluidic systems aimed at targeted cell positioning, cell sorting based on visual data, and directed cell-to-cell or cell-to-other collisions.
If you are interested in working with me, please fill out the online application. Please be sure to fill in all the requested fields (name, email, schools, GPA, GRE, TOEFL ). This information helps me judge whether you will be a good fit within my group. (If something doesn't apply, write N/A.)
