CESSAIR Summary

Autonomous robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the world. Enabled by advanced technologies, robots can perform many tasks in many environments from the inside of biological systems to outskirts of the Solar System. At the everyday level, AI robotics feeds into the internet of things (IoT) as illustrated by robotic household appliances and autonomous vehicles. It is critical to understand whether these engineered systems continue to be safe and secure as they grow ever more complex.  Malicious actors can exploit the physical components, algorithms, and data that make up AI robots with potentially fatal consequences.

Perhaps more disturbingly, AI robots have an increased potential to display unexpected and complex emergent behavior. Our mission is to find AI robotic-powered solutions for scientific advancement, critical infrastructure needs, molecular engineering and medicine, strengthening along the way national defense and recovery capabilities. Our goals are to address the immediate advanced robotics needs of the industrial, information, military, and first response sectors in the Mohawk Valley and, eventually, New York State, by training a specialized workforce and transferring knowledge and creativity from academia to real world applications.

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Research

Quantum Sensors for Robotics and the Internet of Things (IoTs) State-of-the-Art Numerical Topology for Robot Path Planning Vulnerability of Robot Power Systems Next Generation Wireless Communication Technologies for AI Robotics Bio-Inspired Soft Robotics for Real-Time Microplastic Detection and Removal in Aquatic Environments

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Research Professionals

Gunyaz Ablay, PhD Bruno Andriamanalimanana Chen-Fu Chiang Emilio Cobanera

William Durgin 

Dr. William Durgin, a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Associate Fellow of the AIAA, earned his Ph.D. from Brown University in 1970. He has held faculty positions and administrative posts at the University of Florida, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, California State Polytechnic University, and the SUNY Polytechnic Institute. His expertise includes fluid mechanics, modeling and simulation, aerodynamics, micro-gravity flow, turbulence, hydrodynamics, ultrasonic wave propagation, and vortex flows. In recent years, he has worked extensively in electrified aircraft design and sustainable energy systems including unpiloted air systems (UAS). Specifically he is an elected member of the AIAA Electrified Aircraft Technology Technical Committee, served as a board member for the The Solar Energy Center, chaired the California Space Grant Consortium on Workforce Development Committee. He was a cofounder of the Center for Research in Energy and Alternative Transportation Technologies, funded by the US Department of Energy and founder of the WPI Aerospace Engineering program. Additionally, he has been a FIRST robotics mentor for many years and oversaw the formation of the WPI Robotics program. Research and publications pertaining to autonomous experiments and vehicle research work include both aerospace design and low gravity research aboard spacecraft. 
Funding for much of this work was provided by NASA and includes 

• “Innovative Airworthiness Technologies” $30,000, 
• “Solute Nucleation and Growth in Supercritical Fluids:”, $20,011, 
• "Nucleation in Supercritical Fluids," NASA, Lewis Research Center, with G. Smedley, 1993 - 1997, $420,000, 
• "Low-Gravity Heat Transfer," 1989 - 1991, $66,000. 
• Creation of the MEMS Laboratory was funded by the Lufkin Foundation, $400,000, 2004.

Publications

• Rodenhiser, R. J., W. W. Durgin, and H. Johari, “Ultrasonic Method for Aircraft Wake Vortex Detection,” AIAA, Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 44, No. 3, May-June 2007.
• Rogers, M.J.B, Bauugher, Blanchard, C.R., DeLombard, R., Durgin, W.W., Matthiesen, D.H., Neupert, W., and Roussel, P., “A Comparison of Low-gravity Measurements On-board Columbia during STS 40,” Microgravity Science and Technology, V1/3, pp 207-216, 1993.
• Looft, F.J.C., and Durgin, W.W., “The WPI/Goddard Space Flight Center Projects Program,” 32nd ASEE/IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference, Boston, MA.
• Looft, F.S., Durgin, W.W., and Moshini, L., “Payload Design for Space Flight Experiments,” Aerospace Structures and Electronics, Dallas, October 1988.

Andrea Dziubek 

Andrea Dziubek holds a Ph.D. in Energy Engineering and Process Engineering from TU-Berlin in Germany, awarded in February 2006. Since September 2011, she has been an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics & Physics at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, New York, achieving tenure in September 2018. Prior positions include serving as a Research Associate in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) from August 2009 to May 2011, a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Indiana, from August 2007 to June 2008, and as Co-chair and Lecturer of the Project Group Applied Mathematics at TU-Berlin from October 1998 to September 2006.

Andrea has been actively involved in organizing significant academic events, including the Utica Fall Workshops on “Geometric Mechanics and Structure Preserving Discretizations of Shell Elasticity” (GMSPD) held from July 17-28, 2023, August 27 - September 2, 2019, and “Geometry and Symmetry based Mathematical and Computational Methods with Applications in Engineering, Science and Education” from August 27-30, 2015. Additionally, she has been part of several grant proposals, including three NSF grants (2020 with the SUNY Poly team led by M. Carpenter, 2019 with M. Reale and E. Rusjan, and 2017 with G. Guidoboni, A. Hirani, and E. Rusjan) and an American Institute of Math (AIM) grant in 2018. Her funded activities include organizing three GMSPD Workshops, supporting approximately 15 STEM/SURP student projects, and conference travel.

Publications

• Tensor Analysis, H. Schade & K. Neemann, De Gruyter Textbook, translated by AD & E. Rusjan
• Effect of ocular shape and vascular geometry on retinal hemodynamics: a computational model, Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, Springer, AD, G. Guidoboni, A. Harris, A.H. Hirani, E. Rusjan, W. Thistleton
• Using Generalized Dimensional Analysis to Obtain Reduced Effective Model Equations for Condensation in Slender Tubes with Rotational Symmetry, ASME Journal of Heat Transfer, AD
• Equations for Two-Phase Flows: A Primer, Meccanica, Springer, AD

 

Robert Payne

Robert Payne holds a Master of Science in Business Management from SUNY Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome in Marcy, NY, and a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering Technology from the State University College at Buffalo, NY. He is also a certified Total Quality Management Instructor and has served as an Adjunct Instructor at the Institute for Quality Improvement at Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, NY.

Robert has been an Adjunct Professor at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, NY, since January 2010, within the College of Engineering’s Mechanical Engineering Technology program. He also serves as an advisor for student clubs, including the AMA Drone, Additive, and Combat Robotics Clubs. Previously, he was Vice President of Manufacturing & Operations at Human Technologies Corporation in Utica, NY, from October 2006 to May 2011.

Robert is actively involved in various memberships and affiliations. He is a founding member of CNY Drones, a STEM-based competition for students, and serves as an advisor for three student clubs at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. He has held roles such as a member of the SUNYIT Advisory Board for Engineering Technology since 2012, a member of the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the Executive Committee Planning Chair for CNYFIRST® at SUNYIT from 2009 to 2013. Additionally, he was the Logistics Team Coordinator for the FLL@SUNYIT Championship Tournament (2011 - 2013) and has coached both FIRST® LEGO® League (2008 - 2010) and FIRST® Tech Challenge teams (2010 - 2016). He has also chaired the Safety Committee for the Town of New Hartford, NY (2001 - 2005 and 2006 - 2009) and partnered with BOCES in the Excellence in Manufacturing initiative as a business host (1998 - 2006). Furthermore, he served as an Advisory Board Member for the Central Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired from 2000 to 2006.

 

Steven Schneider 

Appontments

• SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Professor, 2006-Present, Associate Professor, 1998-2006, Assistant Professor, 1991-1998
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Visiting Associate Professor, Department of Language, Literature and Communication, 2003-2004; Research Associate, Social Behavioral Research Laboratory, 2003-2004
• Annenberg Public Policy Center, University of Pennsylvania, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, 1999-2001

Education

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ph.D., Political Science, 1997
• University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School of Communications, M.A., Communications, 1988
• George Washington University, B.A., Political Communications, 1981

Selected Administrative Appointments 

• Interim Provost, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, 2018-2022

Interim Dean, School of Arts & Sciences, SUNY Institute of Technology, 2007- 2010

Publications

• The Internet and National Elections: A Comparative Study of Web Campaigning, 2007. Kluver, R., Jankowski, N., Foot, K. and Schneider, S. (Eds). Routledge.
• Web Campaigning, 2006. Foot, K. A., and Schneider, S. M. MIT Press.
• Web Historiography and the Emergence of New Archival Forms. 2011. Dougherty, M. & Schneider, S. M. In Park, D., Jankowski, N. & Jones, S. (Eds.), Long History of New Media: Technology, Historiography, and Contextualizing Newness, Peter Lang Publishing.
• Object-Oriented Web Historiography, 2010. Schneider, S. M. and Foot, K. A. In Brugger, N. (Ed.), Web History. Peter Lang Publishing.
• Taking Web Archiving Seriously. 2009. Schneider, S. M., Foot, K. A., and Wouters, P. In Jankowski, N. (Ed.), e-Research: Transformation in Scholarly Practice. Routledge.

Priangshu Sen 

Priyangshu Sen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering, at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. 
He received his Bachelor of Technology degree from Biju Patnaik University of Technology, India, in 2012. He completed his industrial training in Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited on the communication system on a naval board ship, in 2011. He started his career as a research engineer at the University of Calcutta in Radio Physics and Electronics, in 2013. He received his Master of Technology degree in Radio Physics and Electronics from the University of Calcutta, India, in 2015. He completed his summer training at Samsung Research America in the sub-terahertz communication system and protocol design, in 2019. Recently, he received his Ph.D. degree from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA, in 2022, under the guidance of Professor Josep M. Jornet in the UN Lab, Boston, MA, USA. His current research interests include experimental and statistical characterization of terahertz communication channels and networks. He worked as a wireless system development engineer at Amazon in the USA from 2022 to 2023. At SUNY Poly, he is the designated point of contact for wireless communication and progress with KNUST representatives. He also streamlined the development of the ACES laboratory and set up the versatile wireless testbed at THz and mmWave frequencies. Further, he has created a software-defined backbone for the system which has greatly facilitated research, collaboration and funding opportunities. He obtained external funding through AFRL-mid atlantic solicitation to lead the channel measurement effort at THz frequencies.
 

Jiayue Shen

Jiayue Shen holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA (2018), an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lanzhou University of Technology in Lanzhou, China (2012), and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China (2009). Currently, she serves as an Assistant Professor at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica, NY, a position she has held since June 2018. In addition, she has been a Research Scientist with the SUNY Poly Research Foundation in Albany, NY, since August 2019, and the MET Program Coordinator at SUNY Polytechnic Institute since June 2022.

Dr. Shen is actively involved in research with multiple funded projects. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) for “Titanium Alloys and Nanostructures for Next Generation Biomedical Devices,” a project awarded a 2024 SUNY Poly Seed Grant of $52,000. She also leads a National Science Foundation S-STEM project, “Breaking down barriers to degree completion in Engineering and Engineering Technology programs through experiential learning and self-directed professional development,” funded with $750,000 in 2022. Additionally, she is a Co-PI for “Creating Collaboratively Across Visual Abilities (CCAVA): Open Library of Methods and Tools for Collaboration and Connection among Conventional and Assistive Technology Users,” supported by a $30,000 SUNY IITG Tier 2 grant, and for “Virtual Reality (VR) for Engineering Education: an interactive learning module and virtual labs,” funded with a $15,000 SUNY IITG Tier 1 grant. Dr. Shen also contributes as senior personnel to the SUNY Poly Offshore Wind Training Team (SPOWT²), a project funded by New York’s Offshore Wind Training Institute with $866,000 through the first and second rounds.

Publications

• Shen, L. Mei, D. K. Jones, W. Chen, X. Wang, & M. Geng, "Numerical Study of a Microfluidic-Based Strain Sensor: Proof of Concept," Engineering Proceedings, vol. 27, no. 1, p. 46, Mar. 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-9-13323
• L. Mei, D. Cui, J. Shen, D. Dutta, W. Brown, L. Zhang, & I.K. Dabipi, "Electroosmotic mixing of non-Newtonian fluid in a microchannel with obstacles and zeta potential heterogeneity," Micromachines, vol. 12, no. 4, p. 431, Apr. 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12040431
• Bekiroglu, Korkut, et al. "Low-cost internet of things based real-time pavement monitoring system." 2021 IEEE International Conferences on Internet of Things (iThings) and IEEE Green Computing & Communications (GreenCom) and IEEE Cyber, Physical & Social Computing (CPSCom) and IEEE Smart Data (SmartData) and IEEE Congress on Cybermatics (Cybermatics). IEEE, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1109/iThings-GreenCom-CPSCom-SmartData-Cybermatics53846.2021.00018
• J. Shen, M. Geng, A. Schultz, W. Chen, H. Qiu, & X. Wang, "Numerical study of a multi-layered strain sensor for structural health monitoring of asphalt pavement," in 6th International Electronic Conference on Sensors and Applications, Nov. 2019. https://doi.org/10.3390/ecsa-6-06527
• J. Shen, M. Stacey, & Z. Hao, "A Distributed-deflection Sensor with a Built-in Probe for Conformal Mechanical Measurements of Costal Cartilage at Its Exterior Surface," IEEE Sensors Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 822-829, Jan. 2018. https://doi.org/10.1109/JSEN.2017.2773418

Arjun Singh 

Arjun Singh (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. summa cum laude and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, NY, USA, in 2016 and 2018, respectively. He obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University, Boston, USA in December 2021.  Sicne 2022 he is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering at the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute, Utica, NY. His research interests include realizing Terahertz-band wireless communications, dynamic spectrum sharing, space networks, wavefront engineering, graphene-plasmonics and intelligent reflecting surfaces. In these areas, he has coauthored several publications in leading journals, as well as 1 US patent. He is also serving as the media chair for the IEEE RCC Special Interest Group on Terahertz Communications and as a reviewer for reputed journals including IEEE communications magazine. 
 
At SUNY Poly, he has been serving as a co-chair of the IEEE Club, which has gained Wildcat status under his mentorship. The students from the IEEE Club have successfully published in high impact international conferences, becomes RAs, and are engaged in research and community outreach effort, such as bringing back FIRST Robotics to the Institute. He is also a member of the SUNY Poly AI Task force, where he has been working on the technical side by addressing the potential of AI in wireless solutions, while also being an active participant from the humanitarian and interdisciplinary issues. He is also a regular representative of the ECE department at the accepted students day and outreach activities, as well as being a member of the delegation identified to engage in outreach activities with the delegation from KNUST. 
 
He has successfully led to the development of the THz research program at SUNY Poly, by supervising the purchase of over \$400,000 in purchases for setting up the ACES testbed, which is a state-of-the-art testbed for THz communications. He has also secured external funding from AFRL and NSF, and is engaged in regular proposals to the NSF, both individual as well as collaborative. His successful work in teaching has also been recognized by the department through the Dean's award in teaching excellence in 2023.
 

Yu Zhou
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, SUNY Polytechnic Institute

Professional Preparation

• The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, PhD in Mechanical Engineering, 2004
• The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, Postdoctoral Fellow in Robotics, 2004-2005

Appointments

• 09/2013 – present, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Engineering, State University of New York Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly)
• 09/2005 – 08/2013, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook (SBU)

Publications

• Y. Zhou and J. Dorismond, “Optimal Placement of UAVs to Provide Surveillance Coverage for a Ground Vehicle in a Collaborative Search-and-Rescue Operation”, AI, Computer Science and Robotics Technology, 3(1):1–26, 2024.
• Y. Zhou, W. Liu, X. Lu, and X. Zhong, “Single-camera trilateration”, Applied Sciences, 9(24): article no.5374, 2019.
• X. Zhong, Y. Zhou, and H. Liu, “Design and recognition of artificial landmarks for reliable self-localization of mobile robots”, International Journal of Advanced Robotic Systems, Jan-Feb:1-13, 2017.
• X. Zhong, and Y. Zhou, “A reinforcement learning trained fuzzy neural network controller for maintaining wireless communication connections in multi-robot systems”, in Proceedings of SPIE DSS 2014, Baltimore, Maryland, 2014.
• X. Zhong, and Y. Zhou, “Establishing and maintaining wireless communication coverage among multiple mobile robots using a radial basis network controller trained via reinforcement learning,” in Proceedings of 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO2013), Shenzhen, China, 2013.
• S. Chu, P. Wei, X. Wang, Y. Zhou, “Deployment of a connected reinforced backbone network with a limited number of backbone nodes”, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 12(6):1188-1200, 2013.
• X. Zhong, and Y. Zhou, “Behavior-based fuzzy control framework for multi-mobile-robot deployment”, in Proceedings of 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO2012), Guangzhou, China, 2012.
• X. Zhong, and Y. Zhou, “Maintaining wireless communication coverage among multiple mobile robots using fuzzy neural network”, in Proceedings of the 8th IEEE/ASME International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications (MESA2012), Suzhou, China, 2012.
• X. Zhong, and Y. Zhou, “Establishing and maintaining wireless communication coverage among multiple mobile robots using artificial neural network”, in Proceedings of 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO2011), pp.2083-2089, Phuket Island, Thailand, 2011.
• X. Zhong, and Y. Zhou, “Establishing and maintaining wireless communication coverage among multiple mobile robots via fuzzy control”, in Proceedings of ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE2011), paper DETC2011-47989, Washington D.C., 2011.
• X. Lu, Y. Zhou, and X. Zhong, “Distributed collision-avoiding deployment control of multiple nonholonomic mobile robots”, in Proceedings of ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE2011), paper DETC2011-47991, Washington D.C., 2011.
• Y. Zhou, “A closed-form algorithm for the least-squares trilateration problem”, Robotica, 29(3):375-389, 2011.
• Y. Zhou, “Distributed control of multi-robot deployment motion”, Motion Control, F. Casolo (Ed.), INTECH, 2010.

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External Partners

FDNY Robotics Unit

• S4, E46 FDNY Drones and Robotics with Battalion Chief Anthony Pascocello and Captain Michael Leo – FDNY Pro

Faculty Partnerships.--- Co-PI associate professor Chiang has collaborated with the quantum algorithm team at AFRL. Co-PI Chiang collaborates with Dr. Tzu-Chieh Wei, deputy director of Center of Distributed Quantum Processing (CDQP), on the application of quantum technology into the blockchain ecosystem. Dr. Wei’s interest in the proposed project aligns with the CESSAIR focus. In addition, Co-PI Chiang also collaborates with Dr. Nengkun Yu  from the CS department at SBU whose expertise is in distributed quantum computing network which plays an important role for introducing quantum technology into IoTs and quantum robotics.

Faculty partnerships.--- PI associate professor Cobanera is a Visiting Associate Professor of Physics at Dartmouth where he has been visiting faculty since 2018. He collaborates in research with both faculty in the Physics and Astronomy Department and the Thayer School of Engineering. 

Faculty partnerships.--- Dr. Jiayue Shen is a Co-PI for the Center for Advanced Systems and Materials for Advanced Development (CASMAD) and the Smart Infrastructures and Sustainability Center, where she collaborates on cutting-edge research in mechanical engineering technology. Dr. Shen is also the Principal Investigator for the NSF S-STEM project, which focuses on funding talented engineering and engineering technology students to succeed in their degrees. She is actively involved in partnerships with local entities such as the Indium Corporation, Masonic Medical Research Institute, and the Resource Center for Independent Living, focusing on practical applications of her research in flexible electronics and microfluidic-based sensors, which are fundamental to soft robots. Her role as a senior personnel member for the SUNY Polytechnic Offshore Wind Training Team (SPOWT²) and the Liberty Partnership Program (LPP) further underscores her experience in workforce training and K-12 outreach.

Faculty partnerships.--- Co-PI professor Durgin is an elected member of the AIAA Electric Aircraft Technologies committee and serves on the Hydrogen Power sub-committee. He collaborates with NUAIR and AXenterprises in teaching undergraduates and is in-process of establishing a capstone project. He serves on the WPI Aerospace Engineering Advisory Board. WPI is the home to the Honeywell Hydrogen Fuel-Cell Storage project being conducted on that university campus.  He is well-known in NASA Centers as well as Headquarters and will seek to expand the proposed center through proposals and funding. Finally, he is one of the co-PI’s leading the Sustainable Aerospace Energy Center already funded by SUNY Poly. Dr. Jiayue Shen is a Co-PI for the Center for Advanced Systems and Materials for Advanced Development (CASMAD) and the Smart Infrastructures and Sustainability Center, where she collaborates on cutting-edge research in mechanical engineering technology.

Faculty partnerships.--- Co-PI assistant professor Sen is the designated point of contact at SUNY Poly for wireless communication and progress with KNUST representatives. He has secured external funding through AFRL-mid Atlantic solicitation to lead the channel measurement effort at THz frequencies. Co-PI Sen is also is one of the co-PI’s leading the WINGS Center already funded by SUNY Poly. Collaborator assistant professor Singh is the director of WINGS.