Herber Research Group

Congratulations to Dr. Svetlana Lawrence who defended her Ph.D. dissertation successfully on May 30, 2025 titled "A holistic multidisciplinary decision-making approach utilizing model-based systems engineering and system dynamics for novel energy technology commercialization"! Information on Lana's dissertation work is available [not yet] here.  ⟨2025/05/30⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber received the 2025 ISE Young Alumni Excellence Award at the ISE Recognition Ceremony & Dinner in Urbana, IL on April 25, 2025. More information is on LinkedIn and here.  ⟨2025/04/25⟩

Congratulations to Dr. Eric Enos who defended his Ph.D. dissertation successfully on April 7, 2025 titled "A model-based system for on-premises software-defined infrastructure"! Information on Eric's dissertation work is available [not yet] here.  ⟨2025/04/07⟩

Congratulations to Sarah Rudder who passed their D.Eng. preliminary examination titled "Using an ontology and metamodels to evaluate systems engineering graphical modeling languages" on March 12, 2025! The slides are available here.  ⟨2025/03/11⟩

Congratulations to Terry Plonsky who passed their D.Eng. preliminary examination titled "Integrating agile systems engineering and modular open systems approach (MOSA): a novel methodology for space and defense systems" on February 11, 2025! The slides are available here.  ⟨2025/02/11⟩

Welcome to Bidur Poudel who joined the group as a distance Ph.D. student in Spring 2025!  ⟨2025/01/21⟩

Congratulations to Lisa Marion who passed their Ph.D. preliminary examination titled "Insights into the application of model-based systems engineering to current DoD processes, focalized on early stage naval warship design" on January 10, 2025! The slides are available here.  ⟨2025/01/10⟩

Joe Huyett presented the paper "Engineering and design of an integrated thermal storage and carbon capture system on Calpine's Delta Energy Center [C49]" at the Greenhouse Gas Control Technology Conference in Calgary, Canada on October 22, 2024.  ⟨2024/10/22⟩

James Wheaton completed his internship at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on September 27, 2024. During his time at JPL, he co-authored 3 papers and 1 research poster for the IEEE Aerospace conference and Tenth International Conference on Mars. His primary authored paper "Architecting the Mars Returned Sample Handling System-of-Systems with Agile MBSE" will appear at the next IEEE Aerospace Conference on March 1-8, 2025.  ⟨2024/09/27⟩

Athul Krishna Sundarrajan and Dr. Daniel Herber attended the 2024 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences on August 26-28, 2024 in Washington, DC. Athul presented "Development of an optimal variable-pitch controller for floating axial-flow marine hydrokinetic turbines [C47]" and "Comparison of different data-driven modeling approaches for control optimization of floating offshore wind turbines [P18]". Dr. Herber presented "A general framework for supporting economic feasibility of generator and storage energy systems through capacity and dispatch optimization [C46]" and "Integrated design for wave energy converter farms: assessing plant, control, layout, and site selection coupling in the presence of irregular waves [C45]". The latter [C45] was selected as a Paper of Distinction so congratulations to all the authors: Dr. Saeed Azad, Suraj Khanal, Dr. Daniel Herber, and Dr. Gaofeng Jia. Dr. Herber was also the chair of the Control Co-Design sessions (DAC-01).  ⟨2024/08/26⟩

Welcome to Shawn Merrick Miller who joined the group as an on-campus graduate student in Fall 2024!  ⟨2024/08/19⟩

Dr. Saeed Azad presented in the Control Co-Design for Energy Systems Invited Session the paper "Site-dependent solutions of wave energy converter farms with surrogate models, control co-design, and layout optimization [C43]" at the 2024 American Control Conference in Toronto, Canada on July 11, 2024. Link to the slides is here.  ⟨2024/07/13⟩

Congratulations to Dr. Anthony Sirico who defended his Ph.D. dissertation successfully on June 26, 2024 titled "Integrating geometric deep learning with a set-based design approach for the exploration of graph-based engineering systems"! Information on Anthony's dissertation is available here.  ⟨2024/06/26⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber and Athul Krishna Sundarrajan attended the 2024 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit and SYNERGIES Workshop in Dallas, TX on May 21-24, 2024.  ⟨2024/05/21⟩

Svetlana Lawrence presented "MBSE to support decisions for energy systems [P15]" during the DICE Digital Engineering Conference on May 1, 2024 at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, ID, USA. Dr. Daniel Herber was also in attendance.  ⟨2024/05/01⟩

James Wheaton presented the paper "Digital requirements engineering with an INCOSE-derived SysML meta-model [C40]" and the research poster "Bootstrapping a Trustworthy and Seamless Digital Engineering Appliance" at the 2024 Conference on Systems Engineering Research in Tucson, AZ, USA on March 26, 2024.  ⟨2024/03/26⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber attended the 2024 ARPA-E Ocean Week in Alexandria, VA on February 1-2, 2024.  ⟨2024/02/01⟩

Anthony Sirico presented the paper "Geometric deep learning towards the iterative classification of graph-based aircraft thermal management systems [C38]" and James Wheaton presented the paper "Seamless digital engineering: a grand challenge driven by needs [C39]" at the AIAA 2024 Science and Technology Forum and Exposition in Orlando, FL, USA on January 9, 2024.  ⟨2024/01/09⟩

Congratulations to Eric Enos who passed their Ph.D. preliminary examination titled "Model-based system for on-premises software defined infrastructure" on December 18, 2023! The slides are available here.  ⟨2023/12/18⟩

Congratulations to Svetlana Lawrence who passed their Ph.D. preliminary examination titled "Modern systems engineering principles and tools to support decision-making for novel energy systems with a case study of nuclear-based hydrogen generation" on December 12, 2023! The slides are available here.  ⟨2023/12/12⟩

Lisa Marion presented, a Top Technical Paper Presenter, the presentation "Is it time for ship design to align with model based systems engineering? [P12]" at the 2023 Technology, Systems, & Ships and Combat Systems Symposia in Arlington, VA, USA on November 29, 2023. Link to the slides is here.  ⟨2023/11/29⟩

Svetlana Lawrence presented the paper "Towards the integration of hydrogen production with nuclear with model-based systems engineering [C37]" at the 2023 ANS Winter Conference and Expo in Washington, DC, USA on November 13, 2023. Link to the slides is here.  ⟨2023/11/13⟩

Athul Sundarrajan presented the paper "Using high-fidelity time-domain simulation data to construct multi-fidelity state derivative function surrogate models for use in control and optimization [C36]" at the 2023 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition in New Orleans, LA, USA on November 01, 2023. Link to the slides is here.  ⟨2023/11/01⟩

James Wheaton presented the poster "Digital Requirements Engineering Using Model-Based Structured Requirements [P11]" at the AIAA 2023 Rocky Mountain Annual Technical Symposium held at Colorado State University on September 22, 2023.  ⟨2023/09/22⟩

Welcome to Temitope Adeniji and Ziraddin Gulumjanli who joined the group as on-campus graduate students in August 2023!  ⟨2023/08/14⟩

Congratulations to Dr. Moe Huss who defended his Ph.D. dissertation successfully on July 10, 2023 titled "Development and Quasi-experimental Study of the Scrum Model-Based System Architecture Process (sMBSAP) for Agile Model-Based Software Engineering"! His slides are available here.  ⟨2023/07/10⟩

Several members of the group attended the NSF Workshop on Control Co-Design (CCD) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from May 4-6, 2023. Dr. Saeed Azad was featured on the Early Career CCD Researchers panel (and his slides are available here). Dr. Daniel Herber gave two presentations on "What Should Control Researchers Know About Design Research?" and a specific perspective on the topic of "Portrait of CCD Research through Now", summarized on these slides.  ⟨2023/05/05⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber presented "Enabling Improved Digital Transformation of Requirements and Simulation through SysML and MBSE" during the DICE Digital Engineering Conference on April 25-26, 2023 at Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, ID. The slides are available.  ⟨2023/04/25⟩

As a member of the SE Department Staff/Faculty/Student Cultural Competency Working Group, Dr. Daniel Herber helped facilitate the Friday Talk "Universal Design: Introduction, Case Studies, and Discussion in the Context of Systems Engineering" on April 14, 2023. The recording and slides are available.  ⟨2023/04/14⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber presented "Transition to Digital Engineering: Case Studies and Concepts" during the Systems Engineering Department Friday Talk on April 9, 2023. The recording and slides are available.  ⟨2023/04/09⟩

Welcome to Terry Plonsky who joined the group as a distance D.Eng. student in March 2023!  ⟨2023/03/27⟩

Welcome to Eric Enos who joined the group as a distance Ph.D. student in March 2023!  ⟨2023/03/17⟩

Welcome to Michael Kellogg and Lisa Marion who joined the group as distance Ph.D. students in January 2023!  ⟨2023/01/17⟩

James Wheaton started a remote NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory internship on January 17 in the JPL Robotic Systems group, applying MBSE to the in-orbit robotic transfer assembly of the Mars Sample Return mission.  ⟨2023/01/17⟩

Congratulations to Maurice Ombogo who completed his Master's project titled Analyzing lifecycle requirements of marine hydrokinetic energy systems"! His project model is also available here.  ⟨2022/12/12⟩

Welcome to Svetlana Lawrence who joined the group as a distance Ph.D. student in Fall 2022!  ⟨2022/11/17⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber attended the SPI2 In-person Workshop at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign on November 16-17, 2022.  ⟨2022/11/16⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber attended the 2022 ARPA-E Ocean Week in Washington, DC on October 25-26, 2022.  ⟨2022/10/25⟩

Various members of the group attend the 2022 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences on August 15-17, 2022. Dr. Saeed Azad presented the paper "Control co-design under uncertainties: formulations [C27]". Links to the prerecorded talk and slides can be found here and here, respectively. Roberto Vercellino presented the paper "Control co-design optimization of natural gas power plants with carbon capture and thermal storage [C26]". Links to the prerecorded talk and slides can be found here and here, respectively. Dr. Daniel Herber was also the chair of the Control Co-Design session (DAC-01-01).  ⟨2022/08/15⟩

Roberto Vercellino presented a poster "Realizing profitable carbon capture on natural gas plants with thermal energy storage through optimization-based decision support [P9]" (which was also among 3 receiving the Student Poster Competition Award) and Ethan Markey presented "Economic viability of natural gas power plants with carbon capture and electrically charged thermal energy storage [P8]" at the International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology in Pittsburgh, PA on June 21-23, 2022.  ⟨2022/06/21⟩

Congratulations to Roberto Vercellino who defended his Master's thesis successfully on June 6, 2022 titled "Analysis and control co-design optimization of natural gas power plants with carbon capture and thermal energy storage"! His slides are available here.  ⟨2022/06/06⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber and Roberto Vercellino attended the 2022 ARPA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Denver, CO on May 23-25, 2022.  ⟨2022/05/25⟩

Along with Ann Batchelor, Dr. Daniel Herber copresented "Transition to Digital Engineering" during the Systems Engineering Friday Talks on April 29, 2022. The recording and slides are both available.  ⟨2022/04/29⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber presented the paper "Model-Based Structured Requirements in SysML [C25]" at the virtual 2021 IEEE International Systems Conference on April 25, 2022. Links to the prerecorded talk and slides can be found here and here, respectively.  ⟨2022/04/25⟩

Congratulations to Dr. Andrew Miller who defended his Ph.D. dissertation successfully on March 24, 2022 titled "Applying Model-based Systems Engineering in Search of Quality by Design"! His slides and recording are available here and here.  ⟨2022/03/24⟩

Daniel Call gave a lightning talk titled "When You Build It and They Do Not Come [P6]" at the 2022 INCOSE International Workshop on January 29, 2022. Link to the recording is available here.  ⟨2022/01/29⟩

LaTasha Starr presented the paper "Sewing the Digital Transformation Thread: A Deeper Look into Model-Based Six Sigma (MBSS) and the Model‐Based Systems Architecture Processes (MBSAP) [C24]" at the AIAA 2022 Science and Technology Forum and Exposition on January 3, 2022. The slides can be found here.  ⟨2022/01/03⟩

Congratulations to Mo Hussein who passed his Ph.D. preliminary examination on his research titled "Comparative Analysis of Integrated Scrum Model-Based System Architecture Process (SMBSAP) and Traditional Scrum Approaches for Developing Health Technology System"!  ⟨2021/11/05⟩

Ethan Markey gave the presentation "Economic Viability of Flexible Carbon Capture for Natural Gas Power Plants [P5]" at the 2021 TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo on October 20, 2021.  ⟨2021/10/20⟩

Athul Sundarrajan presented the paper "Open-loop Control Co-design of Floating Offshore Wind Turbines using Linear Parameter-varying Models [C22]" at the virtual 2021 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences on August 19, 2021. Links to the prerecorded talk and slides can be found here and here, respectively. Dr. Daniel Herber was also the chair of the Control Co-Design session (DAC-01-01).  ⟨2021/08/19⟩

Welcome to Dr. Saeed Azad who joined the group as a postdoctoral researcher in July 2021!  ⟨2021/07/05⟩

Congratulations to Athul Sundarrajan who defended his Master's thesis successfully on June 8, 2021 titled "Some Efficient Open-Loop Control Solution Strategies for Dynamic Optimization Problems and Control Co-Design"! His slides are available here.  ⟨2021/06/08⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber presented the paper "Towards a Fair Comparison between the Nested and Simultaneous Control Co-design Methods using an Active Suspension Case Study [C20]" at the virtual 2021 American Control Conference on May 25, 2021. Links to the recording and slides can be found here and here, respectively.  ⟨2021/05/25⟩

Welcome to Andrew Miller and Daniel Cobb who joined the group as distance Ph.D. students in May 2021!  ⟨2021/05/17⟩

The recently-funded ARPA-E project on control co-design hydrokinetic energy systems was written about in a Systems Engineering Department news article.  ⟨2021/03/27⟩

Welcome to Matt McCarter who joined the group as a distance Ph.D. student in January 2020!  ⟨2021/01/27⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber (Co-PI) was awarded a research grant from NSF for the project "Probabilistic Performance Assessment and Control Co-Design of Wave Farms" with Gaofeng Jia (PI) and Hussam Mahmoud (Co-PI). Award Abstract #2034040.  ⟨2020/12/23⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber virtually presented the seminar talk "Integrated Dynamic System Design through the Dimensions of Plant, Control, and System Architecture" at the University of Colorado Boulder Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering Department on December 1, 2020. Link to the slides can be found here and recording here.  ⟨2020/12/01⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber and Woodward PI Dr. Kamran Shahroudi have started work on a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) project with Woodward, Inc..  ⟨2020/09/01⟩

Welcome to H. Sinan Bank, Daniel Call, Anthony Sirico, and LaTasha Starr who joined the group as distance Ph.D. students in August 2020!  ⟨2020/08/24⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber is on a team that has been awarded a contract for the ARPA-E-sponsored project "Synergistic Heat Pumped Thermal Storage and Flexible Carbon Capture System," in collaboration with University of Pennsylvania, ION Clean Energy, and Bright Generation Holdings. Announcement and project description.  ⟨2020/07/13⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber was awarded a contract for the project titled "Conceptual Level Thermal System Architecture Design and Model Based Systems Engineering," in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory.  ⟨2020/04/23⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber gave a plenary talk at the NSF Online Workshop on Integrated Design of Active Dynamic Systems (IDADS) held on March 26, 2020. His talk was titled "Control Co-design Direct Transcription Solution Strategies: Overview and Challenges" and is available here.  ⟨2020/03/26⟩

Welcome to Hannah Park, Khang Ho, and Macklin Harrington who joined the group as Scott Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) researchers in January 2020 for the SP2020 semester!  ⟨2020/01/27⟩

Welcome to Athul Sundarrajan who joined the group as an on-campus graduate student researcher in January 2019!  ⟨2020/01/03⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber was awarded a contract to contribute to the ARPA-E-sponsored project "Wind Energy with Integrated Servo‐control (WEIS): A Toolset to Enable Controls Co‐Design of Floating Offshore Wind Energy Systems," in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).  ⟨2019/12/01⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber presented the seminar talk "Challenges and Methods for the Integrated Design of Dynamic Engineering Systems through System Architecture Synthesis and Control Co-design" at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Flatirons Campus in Golden, CO on October 31, 2019.  ⟨2019/10/31⟩

A technical report report titled "Approximating Arbitrary Impulse Response Functions with Prony Basis Functions [R4]" by Dr. Daniel Herber and James Allison is now available.  ⟨2019/10/21⟩

Dr. Daniel Herber attended the IDETC 2019 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences held in Anaheim, CA on August 18-21, 2019.  ⟨2019/08/22⟩