Author: bmp13011

UTC Aerospace Systems Internship Experience

 

 

From May 31st to August 26th, 2016, UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) provided internship opportunities for two graduate students affiliated with UTC Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering (IASE). Kyle Palmer and William Hale spent their past summer working on various projects assigned by UTAS using the knowledge and skills developed at the University of Connecticut (UConn).

Kyle Palmer is pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UConn. His interest in computational research consists of test design optimization for robust fault detection and identification.

During the internship at UTAS, Kyle focused on two projects. The first project involved an analysis of an air-craft environmental control system and its effect on fault detection with uncertainty. The second project involved nonlinear dynamic models and an assessment of which models were suitable for linearization.

Kyle was able to receive a “hands-on experience” as to what engineers within the industry can accomplish. Additionally, he was exposed to the work environment of UTAS and the expectations that the industry held regarding project timelines and management. He enjoyed applying his current research into relevant projects at UTAS, and this experience has shown that modeling and simulation work is a fulfilling career path. Lastly, he stated that the collaboration between UConn and UTAS helped provide him with a unique opportunity that exceeded his expectations of a standard internship.

William Hale (Billy) is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at UConn and has been conducting research on robust fault detection and isolation methods for aerospace applications. His interests include computational modeling, simulation, and optimization for improving system reliability.

Billy worked on three projects during his time at UTAS. For the first project, Billy investigated the effect of uncertainty on the detection of a failed component in an aircraft environmental control system. For the second project, he analyzed flight test data to determine the feasibility of creating a detection and prevention algorithm for a separate failure. For the final project, Billy developed a modular control library for an aircraft environmental control system aimed at improving control model development.

Billy claimed that, “The most important thing I was able to learn, or re-establish in my mind, is that no results are bad as long as they are conclusive”. He came to this conclusion when he determined that it was infeasible to reliably detect and prevent a failure with the current system architecture. Overall, Billy feels he had a positive impact on his projects and that this UTAS internship was exceptionally rewarding proclaiming, “If given another opportunity to work for UTAS, I would accept it in a heartbeat”.

These two experiences are just the start of what UTC-IASE hopes to accomplish. With the completion of the first building at the UConn Tech Park in early 2017, future collaborations between UConn and UTC will invite similar student experiences for many years to come.

New Assistant/Associate/Full Professor Position at UTC-IASE

The United Technologies Corporation Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering (IASE) at the University of Connecticut (UConn) solicits applications for a full-time tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant, Associate or Full Professor in one of the Mechanical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, or Computer Science & Engineering Departments to conduct research, education and outreach related to systems engineering. The successful candidate will:

  • Develop, sustain, and grow a research program of excellence in the field of systems engineering, requirements formalization and modeling, model abstraction and platform-based system design, control and requirements design and checking. The research program is based on a deep collaboration between industry and the UTC Institute for Advanced Systems Engineering.
  • Teach undergraduate and graduate courses that meet the curricular needs of IASE with particular emphasis on enhancing UTC-IASE’s systems engineering curriculum. Advise and mentor undergraduate and graduate students with particular emphasis in the area of cyber-physical systems and systems engineering.
  • Provide service and leadership to all units of the University of Connecticut, to external academic and scientific communities, and to the general public.

Complete Job Description: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/8224

UTC-IASE Welcomes New Assistant Professor Dr. Matthew Stuber

Dr. Stuber holds a Bachelor of Chmdstubercropped-3emical Engineering degree from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT.  His graduate research focused on the development of theory and algorithms for advanced formal methods in robust design and optimal design under uncertainty.  Specifically, he developed tools necessary to solve challenging problems in rigorous performance and safety verification of process systems for extreme and hostile environments.  Dr. Stuber’s post-doctoral work was as a scientist, engineer, and entrepreneur developing an optimized concentrating solar powered desalination process, launching a start-up company, and piloting the desalination technology for agricultural wastewater reuse in California’s agricultural sector.  Driven by the exciting opportunities in pure and applied research, Dr. Stuber decided to make his way back to academia joining the faculty at UConn.

Dr. Stuber’s research focuses on theory and methods for optimization-based approaches to solving challenging problems in energy, healthcare, and food and water security.  Dr. Stuber emphasizes the full-pipeline view of bringing fundamental developments and discovery to implementation and commercialization for greatest impact.  Recent projects involve rigorous model validation, large-scale global optimization, and optimal design for water and food security in underrepresented communities.

UTC-IASE Breakthrough Award

The UTC-IASE is pleased to announce the initiation of the “UTC-IASE” breakthrough award. The priority of the UTC-IASE Breakthrough Award is to provide an award to recognize innovative, transformational and disruptive contributions in the field of advanced systems engineering. The amount of the Award shall be $50,000 in the first year the prize is awarded, and may be adjusted with time.

 

Background

The UTC-IASE provides financial support to extend the impact of the UTC-IASE through educational and programmatic activities in advanced systems engineering. Such uses may include, without limitation, the creation of curricula, certificate programs, short courses, lecture series or distance learning opportunities.

 

Objectives & Requirements

  • The Award shall be used to promote innovative research in Advanced Systems Engineering
  • Qualified nominees must match the Breakthrough Award with an existing research project managed by UTC-IASE
  • Qualified nominees must be at the early stages of their career (Assistant or Associate)

 

Application Process

Request for nominations to be announced on the UTC-IASE Website and email to the UTC-IASE affiliated faculty

Qualified nominees should submit a 2-page document with:

  • A brief description of the proposed use of the Breakthrough Award funds
  • A brief description of how these funds will be used to match an existing grant managed by UTC-IASE
  • An outlook of how the Breakthrough Award will strengthen the visibility of the nominee, as well as the UTC-IASE
  • A brief description of the collaboration opportunities the Breakthrough Award will generate for the awardee and the UTC-IASE

Qualified nominees must submit a brief biosketch (NSF-style or equivalent – 3 pages max).

Please, submit applications as ONE pdf file at utc-iase@uconn.edu

 

Application Window

Applicants should submit applications by 10/21/2016.

Selection Criteria

The Dean of SoE and the Director UTC-IASE will select the awardee based on the following criteria:

  • Alignment of the matching project with the research roadmap of the UTC-IASE
  • Potential of the project to enhance the awardee’s career
  • Potential for future funding
  • Awardee’s academic and scientific credentials
  • Awardee’s prior service to the UTC-IASE

 

Award Ceremony

The award ceremony will be public (may be done as part of the UTC-IASE seminar series). The UTC-IASE GC Chair will present the award followed by the awardee making a presentation on the topic of interest

UTC IASE welcomes new Assistant Professor Dr. Abhishek Dutta

dutta

UTC IASE welcomes new Assistant Professor Dr. Abhishek Dutta with a joint appointment in electrical and computer engineering and mechanical engineering departments. Abhishek Dutta’s research interests lie in the area of control systems and optimization with application to mechatronic systems amongst others. He has made fundamental contributions to the theory of model predictive control with implementation over various industrial systems and more recently in the field of cyber physical systems security. He is the author of numerous journal papers and has delivered many invited talks. He is currently involved in teaching related to systems engineering for UTC.

Prior to joining UConn, he was a postdoctoral research associate at aerospace engineering in coordinated science lab of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Cedric Langbort. He holds a PhD in electromechanical engineering (model predictive control) under the supervision of Robin De Keyser at Ghent University and under the advise of Jan Maciejowski as a junior member of Wolfson College Cambridge. He has a MSc with distinction from the University of Edinburgh including an informatics prize for outstanding thesis and an European masters from the University of Trento with final mark 110/110. He has held research positions at Technical University Munich (electrical engineering) and Nanyang Technological University (mechanical and aerospace).

SAE Aerospace Systems and Technology Conference

George Bollas from UTC-IASE will be taking part as one of the members of the Systems Engineering Education Panel Discussion on September 28th from 1:30pm – 3:30pm. Representatives from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Worcester Polytechnic Institute will also be in attendance. This Conference will take place in the Hartford Convention Center Monday September 26th – Friday September 30th. Please stop by and visit the UTC booth for more information.

http://www.sae.org/events/pdf/astc/2016_astc_glance.pdf

 

UTC-IASE wins UConn Academic Plan Project:

Led by Professors George Bollas, Krishna Pattipati, Parasara Duggirala, and Ming-Hui Chen, the Bayesian Design of Tests for Fault Detection and Isolation in Complex Systems project has been awarded $200,000. This project aims to seed interdisciplinary and collaborative work on active methods for hard to detect and isolate faults in complex systems generating large amounts of heterogeneous data. In collaboration with United Technologies Aerospace Systems and with applications inspired by the aerospace industry, the investigators’ aim is to enable the cost-effective and safe operation of modern cyber-physical systems, such as transportation, commercial buildings, manufacturing, energy systems, and emergency response systems, which are all critical to the growth of the State’s industrial base. This project illustrates the indication of the penetration of the activities of UTC-IASE in the priorities of the University of Connecticut. The priorities of Level 1 Academic plan Projects are “to support strategic areas of emphasis that have already demonstrated promise and potential (metrics for success include number of students who may benefit from new educational and outreach programs, significant extramural funding support that involves inter-disciplinary groups of faculty partners, national recognition, etc.).” More information can be found here: http://academicvision.uconn.edu/

UTC-IASE attends INCOSE International Symposium in Edinburgh, Scotland:

Drs. Bollas and Jahangir attended the 2016 International Symposium of the nternational Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE). INCOSE’s Annual International Symposium is the largest annual gathering of people who do systems engineering for four days of presentations, case studies, workshops, tutorials and panel discussions. The program attracts an international mix of professionals at all levels, and includes practitioners in government and industry, as well as educators and researchers. More info can be found here: http://www.incose.org/symp2016/home

UTC-IASE participates in winning proposal for a novel Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute:

UTC-IASE has been named part of a new national coalition to coordinate research and development in smart manufacturing and energy efficiency, and will play a leading role in those efforts in Connecticut. The coalition, known as the Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute, has been awarded $70 million from the U.S. Department of Energy that will be matched by private investments and is part of the administration’s effort to double U.S. energy efficiency by 2030. Find more info here: http://today.uconn.edu/2016/06/uconn-joins-national-smart-manufacturing-initiative/