Research Area: Dynamics, modern physics, system modeling and algorithm development

My Daily Calendar

I am a dynamicist. I study motion at its most basic level and sometimes it is almost against common sense – it can appear to be strange and surprising. I also study its applications. At the most basic level, motion occurs in space-time. Space-time dynamics is at the root of modern physics. At the applied level, as it pertains to modelling physical processes, one of the large challenges lies in integrating the disciplines and the phases of matter. On that subject, I teach the course entitled Discrete Element Method (MAE 789). The method is a modern computational approach to two-scale modeling which compliments the more traditional Finite Element Method which is a single-scale method. The majority of my published work deals with advancements at the applied level. Along these lines, there is a growing need for algorithm development, like in autonomous operation of robotic systems. Much of my work in this area focuses on the development of unmanned systems, mostly with aerial systems. I also teach the course entitled Mechatronics (MAE 320). In this introductory course, students learn how to integrate electronics and computer algorithms into hardware, then they form small teams and build their own electromechanical systems.

Community Engagement 

Science writer for The Conversation

Speaker on basic physics and recent developments

Recent activities:

September 14, 2021, Congratulations to Jin Peng for winning the 2021 GTI Summer Program’s Class Poster Competition (video trailer), “Geocentric versus heliocentric”

Jan 4, 2021, magazine article, “Fragments of energy – not waves or particles – may be the fundamental building blocks of the universe.”

April 20, 2021, video (by Ricky Puyana), “Particles and waves are not the fundamentals of our universe: modern theory of impetus”

Ongoing Research

Basic Concepts: 

Basic research that advances the space-time framework that governs physical behavior. This research builds on recent developments in four-dimensional geometry and in four-dimensional vector fields. 

This is joint research with Dr. Jeffrey Eischen and others with the assistance of students.

Namibia Wildlife Aerial Observatory (WAO):

A unique study-abroad program in which field units of undergraduate students spend a semester flying unmanned aerial vehicles over large, endangered animals in an animal reserve for the purposes of studying them and to better understand how to protect them

Each field unit collects aerial data to answer a research question, doing so under the guidance of a graduate research assistant.

Joe Manning, PhD candidate, deployment of aerial technologies in private and public organizations

Andrew Zulu, PhD candidate, unmanned aerial systems for anti-poaching

Pawel Obyrcki, MS candidate, unmanned aerial systems for animal counting in Africa

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STUDENTS INTERESTED IN NAMIBIA WAO STUDY-ABROAD (FOR FALL 2022) 

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Discrete Element Method:

Research that concerns the development of the DEM method

Stephen Coppola, PhD candidate, advancement of the DEM method

Autonomous Systems:

Research that concerns the development of algorithms for motion control

Huzefa Lightwala, MS candidate, algorithm that models the movement of the tarantula

Michael Picinich, MS candidate, development of a heliocopter (quad copter with a central propeller)

Basketball Dynamics:

An extracurricular activity that began more then twenty years ago with the development of a suite of simulation tools that accurately predict the trajectory of a basketball, its collisions with the backboard and rim, and statistically analyze the probability of a shot.

The tools are applied to best practices in the free throw and the bank shot. This is a joint project with Dr. Chau Tran and with the assistance of many students.

Books:

Larry M. Silverberg (2008), “Unified Field Theory for the Engineer and the Applied Scientist,” J. Wiley, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-3527407880

Larry M. Silverberg and J. P. Thrower (2001) “Mark’s Mechanics: Problem-Solving Companion,” McGraw Hill Book Co. ISBN 0-07-136278-9