NASA
Project: Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) Mission
Role: Navigation Sensors Lead, Science Team co-I
Duration: 2019-2024
Program/Sponsor: NASA SMD Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP)
Description: NASA’s first rover to explore the Lunar south pole and its permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) over several Lunar days. VIPER’s primary objective was to study the nature of water on the Moon and map its distribution for human habitation. As lead for the navigation sensor team, I was responsible for managing 20 staff and delivery of 23 spaceflight components, including cameras, lighting system, inertial measurement unit (IMU), star tracker, rover-mounted calibration targets, and support avionics. As a co-I on the science team, I assisted in using imaging and localization system data products to address scientific investigations. VIPER was canceled before launching due to NASA budgetary reasons after the rover was fully built.
Project: Versatile 3D Microscopy in 100 grams!
Role: Principal Investigator
Duration: 2020-2021
Program/Sponsor: NASA Center Innovation Fund
Description: Technical maturation of a miniaturized, solid-state 3D microscope concept for planetary micro-rovers and drones.
Project: Skylight Mission Concept
Role: co-Investigator
Duration: 2020-2021
Program/Sponsor: NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC Phase III)
Description: Development of a mission concept for the first robot to view and map a Lunar skylight by circumnavigating the rim.
Project: An Intelligent System for Measuring Real-time River Flow Velocity from an Unoccupied Aircraft System (StreamFlow)
Role: co-Investigator
Duration: 2020-2024
Program/Sponsor: USGS National Innovation Center, NASA Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST)
Description: Development of a non-contact approach to measuring surface flow velocities using remotely sensed thermal-infrared data acquired from an Unoccupied Aircraft System (UAS).
Project: PHALANX: Projectile Hordes for Advanced Long-term & Networked Exploration
Role: co-Principal Investigator
Duration: 2018-2019
Program/Sponsor: NASA Ames Innovative Research and Development Fund
Description: Demonstration of networked swarms of projectile sensors for area monitoring and localization infrastructure.
Project: ICICLES: Intelligence for Choosing Icy Landing and Exploration Sites
Role: Principal Investigator
Duration: 2017-2019
Program/Sponsor: NASA SMD COLDTech
Description: Development of autonomy for landing on icy moons to maximize science return while leveraging non-traditional EDL sensors.
Project: BRAILLE: Biologic and Resource Analog Investigations in Low Light Environments
Role: co-Investigator, Robotics Lead
Duration: 2017-2019
Program/Sponsor: NASA Planetary Science and Technology through Analog Research (PSTAR)
Description: Development of science, operations, and robotics concepts for planetary cave astrobiology.
Project: NASA Ames Lunar Lab
Role: Principal Investigator
Duration: 2016-current
Program/Sponsor: Resource Prospector Mission, NASA SSERVI, NASA GCD, VIPER Mission
Description: Investigation of appearance modeling, photometry, and simulation for robotic operations at the Lunar poles.
Project: SPEARS: Smart Projectiles for Environmental Assessment, Recon and Sensing
Role: Principal Investigator
Duration: 2016-2017
Program/Sponsor: NASA Center Innovation Fund
Description: Demonstration of “lab in a bullet” configurable projectile payload for extending the science reach of planetary rovers.
Project: Skylight Run: Tethered Robots for Autonomous Cave Exploration
Role: co-Investigator
Duration: 2017
Program/Sponsor: NASA ARC Directors Discretionary Fund
Description: Robot teams using smart tethers for tandem climbing and exploration of vertical environments.
CMU
Project: Robotic Scouts: Augmenting Perception for Underground Rescue
Role: co-Investigator
Duration: 2013-2016
Program/Sponsor: National Robotics Initiative (NRI-small), NSF, NSF REU Supplement (2014)
Description: Fundamental research into robotic perception for underground rescue. Sensing through smoke, dust, flood, and fire.
Project: Exploration of Planetary Skylights and Caves
Role: co-Investigator
Duration: 2012-2014
Program/Sponsor: NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC Phase II)
Description: Robots for exploring and modeling planetary skylights and the caves to which they lead. Research in cable-traverse actuation, dynamic bouldering, expansive 3D mapping.
Project: Non-geometric Terrain Hazard Detection
Role: co-Investigator
Duration: 2012-2015
Program/Sponsor: National Robotics Initiative (NRI-small), NASA
Description: Investigation of technologies for non-contact detection of soil and ground hazards such as slip, sinkage and abrasion for planetary rovers. Research in vision for thermal diffusivity, stand-off microscopy and terramechanics.
Project: Robotic Mine Rescue Scout
Role: Project Manager
Duration: 2010-2011
Program/Sponsor: Mine of the Future, NIOSH
Description: Development of a robotic scout to cooperate with mine rescue teams by forging ahead and evaluating environmental conditions.
Project: Characterization of Range and Imaging Sensors for Underground Modeling
Role: Technical Lead, co-Investigator
Duration: 2010
Program/Sponsor: Counter Tunnel Exploitation, RTC/US Army
Description: Characterization of sensors for mapping, modeling and feature detection for robots designed to operate in tunnel environments.
Project: Mosaic Borehole Camera
Role: Technical Lead
Duration: 2008-2009
Program/Sponsor: Mosaic Company
Description: Long-distance borehole panoramic imager and dark photography techniques.
Project: Three-inch Diameter Borehole Mapping Robot
Role: Technical Lead
Duration: 2006-2007
Program/Sponsor: PA Department of Environmental Protection
Description: Small-diameter modeling robot for descending unlined boreholes by descending through the core of a drilling rig.