Faculty Member, morteza.lahijanian@colorado.edu

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Kandai.Watanabe@colorado.edu

I’m a postdoc in the ARIA Systems Group and CUPLV. I received my Ph.D. in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. I got my Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree at Keio University, Japan and also studied at University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign during my Bachelor’s Degree. My research interest lies in the intersection between Control Theory, Optimization Theory and Probability Theory. I’m especially interested in long-term task learning for a robot to accomplish complex tasks like cooking. I have experiences in low-level engineering (circuit design, sensor fetching, sensor fusion, filtering, and controller design) as well as high-level decision making algorithms (e.g. Reinforcement Learning). At ARIA Systems Group, I envision to synthesize high-level task learning (e.g. formal methods) with the low-level primitive policy learning (e.g. RL).

PhD Candidate, john.skovbekk@colorado.edu

Hey! I’m John, a PhD student in aerospace engineering at CU Boulder. My research interests include formal synthesis and verification, analysis of multi-agent networks, and applications of reliable autonomous systems. My current research is focusing on control synthesis for nonlinear systems with only partial knowledge of the dynamic model. I finished my undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. My extracurricular interests include maintaining my bike and my car, hiking when it is too cold out, and crossing books off my reading list.

PhD Candidate, justin.kottinger@colorado.edu

I am a graduate student in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder. My research occupies the fusion of multi-robot task and motion planning, fault robust decision making, and human interpretable artificial intelligence. In my spare time, I maintain an active outdoor lifestyle by constantly seeking trails to explore, mountains to snowboard down, and sports to play.

PhD Candidate, anne.theurkauf@colorado.edu

Hi, I’m Anne and I’m just starting my Ph.D. here at CU Boulder. After getting my undergraduate degrees at Lehigh University, I got my start in engineering at Draper labs working on precision navigation instruments, like IFOGs. After a few years in the nuts and bolts (literally) of instrument prototyping and testing, I decided to move out to Boulder to pursue an MS in aerospace engineering. My work as an MS student stayed on theme with an atom-based inertial sensing project, but my contributions shifted to the controls side. Now I am exploring a wicked exciting new direction for my Ph.D. with the ARIA System Group. I work on navigation and objective planning for collaborative multi-agent systems exploring the lunar surface. We use formal methods to generate decision making strategies that maximize both mission value and safety.

PhD Candidate, qi.ho@colorado.edu

Hey there! I’m Qi Heng, PhD student at CU Boulder. My research interests include sequential decision making under uncertainty, formal synthesis for robotics, and the intersection of these fields. I am especially interested in understanding how we can develop time and safety-critical autonomous systems that perform reliably with behavioral guarantees in partially observable and unstructured environments. Previously, I was a research engineer at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Centre, where I worked on developing algorithms for self-driving vehicles. I grew up in Singapore, and completed my undergraduate degree at the National University of Singapore.

PhD Student, rayan.mazouz@colorado.edu

Hi! I’m Rayan, a PhD student in Aerospace Engineering at CU Boulder. My research focuses on developing control strategies and software for safety-critical systems. Specifically, finding optimal control methods that include formal safety specifications using Control Barrier Functions. I obtained my Master of Science degree in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. I was a (Fulbright) researcher for two years at the Robotics Section of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where I developed models for astrodynamics applications. I enjoy outdoor activities, with playing soccer being my absolute favorite.

PhD Student, karan.muvvala@colorado.edu

Hey, I am Karan, a Ph.D. student in the Aerospace Engineering Dept. at CU. I did my undergrad in India and Master’s in Mechanical Engineering at CU Boulder. At ARIA Systems group, I work on developing theories and algorithms that enable robots to operate safely, robustly, and efficiently in unknown and dynamic environments. Currently, I am working on Synthesizing high-level strategies for a robot operating in the presence of humans using game-theoretic approaches. I have also worked on Verifying the safety of complex systems modeled as neural networks and guaranteeing their safety using Barrier Methods for Safe Autonomy. My current research interest includes Formal Methods, Verification and Planning for Autonomous systems, Game Theory, and Control Theory.

PhD Student, robert.reed-1@colorado.edu

Hello! I’m Robert and I started my Ph.D. in the ARIA Systems Group in Fall 2021. After getting my undergraduate degree at MIT, I spent a few years working as a Controls Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab. My work there expanded my interests in control theory and encouraged me to delve into research for autonomous systems. My research interests include safety verification of systems with unknown dynamics, neural network output verification, and formal synthesis. In my spare time, I like rock climbing, kickboxing, and playing with my dog (though I do that when busy too).

PhD Student, ibon.gracia@colorado.edu

Hey there! I’m Ibón, a first-year PhD student in Aerospace Engineering at CU Boulder. I got my BSc in Aerospace Engineering in the Technical University of Madrid, Spain, and my MSc in Systems & Control in Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. My previous research involved formal strategy synthesis of uncertain systems through Markovian abstractions, obtaining performance guarantees. I also have some experience working as a Flight Control Systems Engineer at Capgemini. My interests include sequential decision-making under uncertainty, formal methods, safety-critical systems and machine learning. In my free time I enjoy playing and listening to music, exercising (specially cycling, fitness, swimming, volleyball, hiking) and watching movies.

PhD Student, peter.amorese@colorado.edu

I am a first year PhD student studying Aerospace Engineering with a focus on autonomous systems at the University of Colorado Boulder. I am passionate about theoretical problems in the field of autonomy and robotics. I received my BS degree from CU Boulder in Aerospace Engineering as well. My personal research is focused on synthesizing a high-level plan that efficiently satisfies a set of task preferences while respecting a user-defined priority for each task. My goal with this research is to extend the high-level reasoning capability of autonomous systems in scenarios where an agent is given multiple tasks to complete.

PhD Student, Chun-Wei.Kong@colorado.edu

Hi I’m a first-year PhD student. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautics and Astronautics from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, and a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I am interested in pushing the boundaries of space exploration using autonomous systems. I am co-advised by Dr. Jay McMahon.

MS Student, nicolas.perrault@colorado.edu

Hello! I am Nicolas, a current Master’s student in Aerospace Engineering at CU Boulder. I completed my undergraduate studies at CU Boulder as well, earning degrees in both Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science in 2024. My research interests focus on quick, low-latency motion planning for dynamical systems in unknown environments. I am particularly interested in designing algorithms suitable for parallel processing and execution on GPUs, with the goal of deploying them in real-world systems. In my free time I enjoy 3D printing, hiking and spending time with family and friends.

MS Student, yusif.razzaq@colorado.edu

Hey! I’m Yusif, a master’s student studying Aerospace Engineering at CU Boulder. I received my BS degrees in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from West Virginia University. My research interest involves the implementation of formal methods for robust task and motion planning with applications in the robotics domain. My current research is focused on multi-objective motion planning, aimed at improving the quality of plans along various dimensions. In my spare time, I enjoy hiking, taking road trips, and watching the sun set over the Rockies.