My Web Site
I am an electrical engineering
PhD student at University of Dayton studying methods of intelligent control
supported by an Ohio Space Grant Consortium
Fellowship. I have a BS in mechanical engineering from University of Akron
and a MS in electrical engineering from the University of Dayton. On this
site I have some MATLAB programs and some presentations I've done in Useful Programs or Other and a smattering of
personal stuff mostly for my relatives. For recreation I enjoy reading,
running or playing with my R/C car, airplane or helicopters. I work at the
Air Force Institute of Technology (for SOCHE) developing non-contact
measurement techniques for micro-air vehicles, space membranes or other
flexible structures.
In my personal life, I have been married for 5
years to Karen, and my first baby was born a
couple years ago, Nicole Jennings. She's always
getting older and now likes singing and coloring. You can see some videos
with her on YouTube under alanjenningsohio
and here’s a full page with pictures of
her. I am originally from the East side of Cleveland (Kirtland), Ohio. The
longest time I spent away from Ohio was for a two-year religious mission in
Utah for The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). I enjoy almost all sports, but a loose
shoulder prefers low contact sports, especially biking now. I achieved a
personal milestone by completing the USAF marathon last summer.
|
My Career Objectives
Currently I research controls
with a focus on robotics and automation and hope better designs will
enhance everyday life. Ultimately, I’d like to research and teach
engineering. Being a professor would be rewarding because I enjoy research
and teaching with my aptitudes and interests being a great asset.
After I graduate with a
doctoral degree, I anticipate working in research for a corporation or a
national lab. Some of the projects I would personally enjoy are:
Robotic learning, how to give a robot the framework so it can be taught
as we teach children. If we want robots to learn as people do, they should
have the foundation that we give to our infants. Here’s a example
from Iowa with this philosophy.
Exploratory Swarms, having a lot of simple agents that interact to quickly
survey large expanses. Rather than one or two robots that traverse slowly
and deliberately, hundreds of drones can fan out and quickly determine favorable
directions and gather a wealth of data. With low-level autonomous control,
a human could orchestrate them as many `Warcraft’ like game are done today.
A
MIT/iRobot collaborative paper is here.
Robotic Assisted Motion, robots coupled to
humans to provide needed power. This concept has been around for ages where
a person dons a robotic suit for super-human strength. A more practical
application is for the many disabled people with some strength. Power would
supplement the person’s own movement giving them their previous mobility.
|
My Educational Background and Objectives
Education empowers an engineer
to design and analyze real-world problems. I desire knowledge to solve
problems that interest me and improve society. I developed reasoning during
undergraduate studies with understanding of kinematics, strength, geometry
and more. Graduate studies taught advanced tools I need including nonlinear
analysis and design, adaptive control, optimum control and practical
control implementation.
University
of Akron taught me to
apply fundamental principles to structures, motion, and thermal/ fluid
systems with course work, projects, labs and co-op. Participating in the
SAE Aero design team giving me practical experience and leadership training
(Team Captain). I have spent over a year with work experience at ERICO (maker of Caddy clips and LENTON rebar couplers).
Exploring pneumatic response on a NSF grant at Western Michigan University
revealed the satisfaction in research. Engineering needs more than just
equations, but understanding the fundamentals involved and my background
covers theory and practice.
I now attend University of
Dayton studying controls with Dr. Raúl Ordóñez.
I have experience publishing research and a
full understanding of principles of control. My thesis on optimizing UAV
path planning in wind investigated the discontinuous nature of way points
on optimization. This requires an understanding of how to deal with a
non-linear, non-homogenous environment. The optimal solution is combinatorially
infeasible, but I suggested a set of heuristics that can quickly (<1sec)
provide near optimal paths.
After my doctoral studies, I
will explore applications. By learning about manufacturing, surgery or
harsh environments like space, deep sea or construction sites; I would be
able to design better robotic systems for those situations. Success would
be incorporating research in to tangible societal improvements.
|
