In addition to the main technical program, the conference includes special sessions and lunch-time sessions to support networking, education, and funding opportunities.
Best Conference Paper Award Presentation
Industry Perspective on Challenges and Opportunities in Energy and Mobility Systems
National Laboratories Research & Development in Modeling, Estimation, and Control
Accelerating Innovation: Automotive Control Trends & Networking Session
Advanced Mechatronics and Manufacturing
Poster Displays and Rapid Interaction Sessions
Break-Out 1-on-1 Rapid-Interaction Discussions with Government Personnel
Funding Opportunities from Government Agencies
Getting Funded by NSF: Proposal Preparation and the Merit Review Process
Student Program: Best Student Paper Presentation, Rising Stars Special Session, Mentoring Session for Students and Young Members, Workshop for Middle and High School Students: Learning about Feedback Principles
Best Conference Paper Award Presentation
Organizers: Xu Chen
Time: Monday, 12:10 PM – 1:25 PM
Location: Brighton IV
The best paper candidates are selected by the best paper evaluation committee based on the raw peer review results and a second round of review by the committee members. Based on those reviews, the following five papers were selected as finalists for the Best Conference Paper Award.
Finalists:
Nariman Niknejad and Hamidreza Modares, “Data-Driven Stabilizing Control Design Via Minkowski-Lyapunov Inequality: A Zonotopic Framework”
Muhammad Waleed Kahn, Tianyang Cui, Tyler Summers, Anye Zhou, Adian Cook, Joe Beck, Qadeer Ahmed, and Zejiang Wang, “Time-Varying Output Delay Compensation-A Model-Free Approach and Its Application on Cooperative On-Ramp Merging”
Mehmet Ozkan, Dennis Kibalama, Marcello Canova, and Stephanie Stockar, “Traffic-Aware Eco-Driving Control in CAVs Via Learning-Based Terminal Cost Model”
Jonathan Bush and Wenlong Zhang, “Modeling Human Steering Behavior Using a Custom Robotic Bicycle”
Gregory L. Plett and Gavin McVeigh, “Sensitivity of Lithium-Ion Battery SOP Estimates to Sensor Measurement Error and Latency”
Industry Perspective on Challenges and Opportunities in Energy and Mobility Systems
Organizers: Satadru Dey and Ying Shi
Time: Monday, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Brighton III
Energy and mobility systems form a key aspect of critical infrastructure. Given the rise in computing power, development of new technologies, and advances in peripheral fields – it is important to understand the current status of energy and mobility systems. This includes being aware of the current challenges or limitations faced by emerging technologies – as well as – understanding what new opportunities lie ahead in these domains. This special session will bring panelists from industry who will discuss these aspects. This will be a great opportunity for the young researchers in controls community to get exposed to interesting challenges in energy and mobility systems. This event will have two parts: Total 90 minutes (45 minutes for each part). Part 1 will have specific talks by the panelists on various energy and mobility related challenges and opportunities. Each talk will be 10-15 minutes. This will last about 45 minutes. Part 2 will start right after Part 1 ends. This will also be a 45-minute session. In this part, the same panelists will answer specific questions from the audience.
Speakers:
Bharatkumar Hegde, General Motors, “Control Engineers’ Blueprint for Faster, Safer DC Fast Charging”
Yasaman Masoudi, Stellantis, “Current Themes and Trends in Battery Intelligence: Challenges and Opportunities”
Vivian Hou, Lucid Motors, “Software Design Considerations for Practical Limitations and External Interferences in Physical Systems”
Ruxiu Zhao, Joby Aviation, “Validated State-of-Power Predictions for Safety-Critical eVTOL Applications”
National Laboratories Research & Development in Modeling, Estimation, and Control
Organizers: Jonathon Slightam and Satadru Dey
Time: Monday, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Brighton IV
You may already be familiar with the role government plays in funding research, but perhaps you are interested in learning how government agencies, such as national laboratories, also play a big role as technical direction agents and performing cutting-edge research. Perhaps you’re looking to start your career after graduation or you’re looking for government institution collaborators and are wondering what kind of opportunities exists in government. If so, this session is for you!
In this government session on national laboratories R&D in modeling, estimation, and control, we’ll hear from researchers at national laboratories discussing their roles in government research can play in research, their own research programs and background, and opportunities for collaboration and careers at laboratories at the respective institutions.
This session will include 4 talks from National Laboratories. The aim is to convey to the audience some of the primary R&D thrusts from the respective institutions, the researcher’s work, and opportunities to collaborate to solve some the nation’s most challenging technical problems.
Speakers:
Lonnie Love, Sandia National Laboratories, “Freeform Fluidics”
Tim Salsbury, Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, “Modeling, Estimation, and Control for National-Scale Challenges: Insights from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory”
Kamrynn Schiller, Idaho National Laboratories, “Enhancing Materials Research Through the Integration of Collaborative Robots at Idaho National Laboratory’s Sample Preparation Laboratory”
Dan Small, Sandia National Laboratories, “An Overview of UAS Programs at Sandia National Laboratories”
TopAccelerating Innovation: Automotive Control Trends & NetworkingSession
Organizers: Shobhit Gupta (GM), Shreshta Rajakumar Deshpande (SwRI), Marcelo Araujo Xavier (Amazon), Brian Block (OSU), Ruiting Wang (UCB), Junfeng Zhao (ASU)
Time: Tuesday, 9:30 AM –11:00 AM
Location: Woodlawn
This session offers students a structured opportunity to explore career options and build professional connections through a speed networking event. Centered on themes of automotive, transportation, and control, it also includes panelists from a wide range of fields and experiences. Professionals will be from academia, industry, national labs, and government. The event begins with short introductions from each panelist, followed by student-professional rotations in 5-10 minute intervals. Attendance is capped at 80–100 students to maintain small, effective networking groups. Students must RSVP (will be sent in September) in advance to ensure balanced group sizes and a productive, engaging experience for all.
TopAdvanced Mechatronics and Manufacturing
Organizers: Robert Landers and Ellen Mazumdar
Time: Tuesday, 9:30 AM –11:00 AM (Session I)
Tuesday, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM (Session II)
Tuesday, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM (Session III)
Location: Brighton II
The Advanced Mechatronics and Manufacturing special sessions establishes a durable community around mechatronics for manufacturing at MECC. Talks, papers, and posters in this session will allow faculty and their students to communicate the progress on their research threads across various domains not commonly seen at MECC, such as new manufacturing methods, additive techniques, process characterization, precision design, or metrology.
TopPoster Displays
Session I
Time: Monday, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Grand Station III-V
Session II
Time: Monday, 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Grand Station III-V
Session IV
Time: Tuesday, 1:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Grand Station III-V
Session I allows poster submissions to display late-breaking research results in modeling, estimation, and controls. Session II is reserved for Rising Star poster display and discussion. Section IV is reserved for presenters from Advanced Mechatronics and Manufacturing I, II, III sessions.
Rapid Interaction Sessions
Session I: Regular Late-Breaking Result Poster Submissions
Time: Monday, 09:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Grand Station I-II
Session II: Rising Stars Presentation
Time: Monday, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Location: Grand Station I-II
The session will open with consecutive oral presentations, each lasting 3 minutes. A corresponding poster session takes place in Grand Station III–V, located next to the session room, featuring posters related to the presentations.
TopBreak-Out 1-on-1 Rapid-Interaction Discussions with Government Personnel
Organizers: Jonathon Slightam and Satadru Dey
Time: Monday, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM (Session I)
Monday, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM (Session II)
Location: Edenburg
Conference attendees will have the opportunity to have 10-minute discussions with speakers from the government sessions. This will help early career investigators, students looking for future careers to have brief, but in depth conversations with members of the funding agencies or national laboratories. A sign-up page will be available to conference attendees to book these times prior to conference attendance. The primary goal of this break-out session is to give ample opportunity to students, early career researchers, faculty, and potential collaborators to connect to key personnel in government type roles.
TopFunding Opportunities from Government Agencies
Organizers: Jonathon Slightam and Satadru Dey
Time: Tuesday, 1:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Location: Brighton IV
The National Science Foundation (NSF) and department of energy (DOE) offer funding opportunities for investigators working in the fields of modeling, estimation, and controls. This session is aimed at describing opportunities that are relevant to the modeling, estimation and controls communities. If you’re looking for funding opportunities in modeling, estimation, and controls, this session is for you! This government session will host talks from representatives from multiple program areas at the NSF and one from the DOE. A secondary purpose of this session is to help convey opportunities and how to aim your research to successfully get funded by the NSF or DOE.
Speakers:
Marcello Canova, National Science Foundation
Jordan Berg, National Science Foundation
Alena Talkachova, National Science Foundation
Eyad Abed, National Science Foundation
Representative for the DOE Office of Science for Isotope R&D and Production (IRP).
TopGetting Funded by NSF: Proposal Preparation and the Merit Review Process
Organizers: Jordan Berg, Marcello Canova, and Alena Talkachova
Time: Tuesday, October 7, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Brighton III
So, you think you have a great research idea, now how do you get funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to do the work? A well-scoped and written proposal is instrumental to successful submission. This session targets junior faculty and researchers who might be new to NSF and describes detailed guidelines and practical advice for proposal preparation. The presenter will go over NSF review process and Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts criteria, as well as share common mistakes made by the Primary Investigators when submitting a proposal. Question-and-answer session will follow the presentation. Program Directors at NSF will first present proposal writing guidelines and then start a panel discussion on this topic.
TopNSF CAREER Awardee Talks
Organizers: Xu Chen and Satadru Dey
This special session brings together recent CAREER awardees from the Dynamics, Control, and Systems Diagnostics program at the National Science Foundation to discuss their research. There will be time for questions from the audience and for the entire group to explore future directions in the field of systems and controls.
Time: Wednesday, 9:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Location: Brighton IV
Speakers:
Justin Koeln, University of Texas at Dallas, “Exact Feedforward Neural Network Representations of Multi-Parametric Quadratic Programs with Applications to Explicit MPC”
Ilya Kovalenko, Penn State University, “Intelligent Products for Mass Individualization in Manufacturing Systems”
Marzia Cescon, University of Houston, “Bayesian Optimization for the Automated Tuning of Predictive Controllers in Small Dataset Regimes”
Minghui Zheng, Texas A&M University, “Facilitating Autonomy of Robots through Learning-Based Control”
Changliu Liu, Carnegie Mellon University, “Toward Safe Lifelong Human-AI Interactions”
TopFrom Grant Proposal to Research Publication: Win Grants and Secure Funding with Quanser’s Free Proposal Assistance Program
Organizers: Mohit Saravanan and Amirpasha Javid
Time: Wednesday, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Location: Woodlawn
Whether you’re a faculty member or department head looking to secure research, educational, equipment and major infrastructure grants or an early-career researcher seeking to build a portfolio from scratch, this session shows how we can increase your chances of success and help with identifying funding, developing grant proposals and post-award project execution. You will witness the end-result of a Quanser grant support collaboration. We will present a recent technical paper (Intrusion Detection Systems for Enhancing Security in Autonomous Vehicles co-authored by Dr. Damiano Torre Assistant Professor, University of Washington Tacoma and Amirpasha Javid, Director of Research Partnerships at Quanser). The research was funded by a Department of Defense grant co-developed by the authors and the Quanser Grant Proposal Team and experimentally validated using Quanser’s QDrone 2, Qcar 2 and Qbot Autonomous Vehicles.
In this session, you’ll learn
- Best practices for developing winning proposals to agencies like DoD and NSF.
- Common grant pitfalls and how to avoid the mistakes that lead to rejection.
- How Quanser supports researchers throughout the full lifecycle: from opportunity identification and proposal development to lab setup, team training, post-award collaborations and publications.
- Examples of recently funded projects and case studies
- Current national priorities and funded areas in control systems, autonomous vehicles, human-robot teaming, heterogeneous multi-agent networks, applied AI and related adjacencies.
Bonus Engagements
- Here is your chance to win a Quanser Qube Servo 3- Participate in a fun attendee competition at the start.
- Get insight into a curated list of active funding opportunities in the U.S. for research, education and lab instrumentation.
- Connect directly with Quanser’s Grant Proposal and R&D team.
Speakers:
Mohit Saravanan, Software Engineer, joined Quanser as part of the R&D team, where he develops software and toolkits that power Quanser’s robotics and control systems. His technical expertise quickly became evident through his key role in the Introduction to Robotics Teaching Lab (IRTL), enabling students and educators to explore real-time control, robotic manipulation, and AI-driven applications on both physical and virtual platforms.
Mohit’s passion for accessible, high-performance learning tools is reflected in his development of the QArm Mini curriculum, where he authored hands-on labs in Python and MATLAB covering forward, inverse, and differential kinematics, as well as computer vision techniques for object detection and tracking. He has also driven internal innovation by creating custom installers and automation tools that streamlined curriculum distribution and improved efficiency across the R&D team.
In addition to his engineering contributions, Mohit has represented Quanser at conferences and events, delivering live demonstrations that highlight the educational and research value of Quanser’s platforms to instructors, researchers, and industry professionals. With his unique blend of technical depth and educational vision, Mohit continues to shape the future of robotics learning experiences for institutions worldwide.
Amirpasha Javid, Director, Research Partnerships, joined Quanser in December 2007 as an Engineer on the Curriculum team, now known as the Academic Applications team. His technical prowess and dedication quickly became evident, and his outgoing personality led him to be a go-to resource for customer-facing engagements. In 2011, Pasha transitioned to be Quanser’s first Applications Engineer, combining his deep technical expertise with a customer-focused approach, leading to immediate success and strong client relationships. After being promoted to Territory Manager, Americas in 2019 and Director of Sales in 2021, his leadership, vision, and execution ensured continuous business growth. Amirpasha’s passion for research and innovation has been a constant throughout his career. Following the huge success of the grant assistance program in North America during the 2023–2024 fiscal years, Pasha will now spearhead global grant opportunities, making them a key driver of future business growth while continuing to be an integral member of the sales leadership team.
Workshop for Middle and High School Students: Learning about Feedback Principles
Organizer: Daniel Abramovitch (Agilent Technologies)
Time: Monday, 09:30-15:00
Location: Admiral
Our free workshop will start with a welcome and an introductory talk on the principles of feedback. This popular talk has been introduction middle and high school students to a new way of thinking about how we teach machines to do what humans do. This talk is followed by a few talks describing how automatic feedback control systems are used for everything from self-driving cars, to making medicines, to drones used for rescuing humans and detecting pollution and gas leaks. Over box lunches, students will get to ask more questions of the speakers and maybe participate in a hands-on activity.
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