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Group Photo Gallery
Group Photo Gallery
Director / PI
Director / PI
Kooktae Lee
Kooktae Lee
I received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Korea University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2006 and 2008, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA, in 2015. I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Texas A&M University from 2015 to 2016, and a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, from 2016 to 2017. I joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM, USA, in 2017 as an Assistant Professor and is currently an Associate Professor. I am the recipient of the NSF CAREER Award in 2022 from the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI), Dynamics, Control and Systems Diagnostics (DCSD) program, within the Directorate for Engineering (ENG). My research interests include robotics and control, multi-agent systems, distributed networked control, uncertainty quantification, stochastic switched systems, and asynchronous algorithms.
Current Graduate Students
Current Graduate Students
- Ph.D. students
- Sungjun Seo (Ph.D., Jan. 2023 - ):
Density-Driven Optimal Control of Multi-Agent Systems for Efficient and Collaborative Area Coverage
- Mahsa Soroori (Ph.D., Jul. 2023 - ):
Geodesic Path Planning with Collision Avoidance
- M.S. students
- Seth Diaz (M.S., Aug. 2023 - ):
An Efficient Outdoor Positioning Sensor System using Infrared LEDs with Unique Pattern
- Julian Martinez (Accelerated M.S., Jan. 2024 - ):
Development of an Autonomous Wildlife Monitoring Rover System
- Ethan Brook (Accelerated M.S., Jan. 2024 - ):
Development of an Autonomous Wildlife Monitoring Rover System
Graduate Alumni
Graduate Alumni
NMT Graduate Students (as a Chair of Committee)
- Mohammad Afrazi (M.S., Aug. 2022 - July 2025, currently a Ph.D. student at Duke University):
Asynchronous Consensus Algorithm for Microgrid State Estimation
- Dana Figueroa (M.S., Aug. 2023 - May 2025, currently working at Sandia National Lab.):
Investigating Animal-Robot Interaction Dynamics: Enhancing Behavioral Understanding and Autonomous System Design for Wildlife Applications
- Jesse Montano (M.S., Aug. 2022 - May 2024, currently Full-Time Employee at Sandia National Lab.):
Computationally Efficient Scan Matching Method via Optimal Transport Theory for SLAM applications
- Luke Strebe (M.S., Aug. 2021 - May 2023, currently Full-Time Employee at Los Alamos National Lab.):
Design and Control of a Solar-Powered Autonomous Mobile Robot
- Geronimo Macias (M.S., Aug. 2020 - May 2023):
Development of a Hybrid Drone and an Informative Path Planning Algorithm for Cave and Karst Surveys
- Brendan O'Brien (M.S., Jul. 2020 - Sep. 2022, currently Full-Time Employee at Los Alamos National Lab.):
Automation of Detonator Crimp Seam Gluing through Dispensing Pressure and Specimen Rotational Speed Compensations
- Rabiul Hasan Kabir (M.S., Aug. 2019 - Jun. 2021, currently a Ph.D. student at Rutgers University ):
Optimal Transport-based Efficient Multi-Robot Exploration Planning
- Johnathon Garcia (M.S., graduated in May 2020, joined U.S. navy):
Design and Analysis of a New Mechanism for a Snake-Like Robot
NMT Graduate Students (as a Member of Committee)
- Funmilola Nwokocha (Ph.D., graduated in Fall 2024):
Structural Health Monitoring of Space Vehicles using the Multi-Input, Single-Output (Miso) Electro-Mechanical Impedance Method
- Daniel Mills (EE Ph.D., graduated in Fall 2023):
Continuous-Time Optimal Control with Domain Constraints Enforced by Operator Splitting
- Mariah Gammill (M.S., graduated in 2023):
Natural Energy Harvesting Mechanisms for a Drone on Titan
- John Anthony Sanchez (M.S., graduated in 2020):
Elastic Wave Dispersion and the Effects of Boundary Conditions in a Small Payload for the International Space Station
- Sean Coss (M.S., graduated in 2019):
Design and Characterization of a Wristband for Force Myographic Control of Prostheses
- Benjamin Alan Chesebrough (M.S., graduated in 2019):
Design and Optimization of Manipulator Kinematics for Drone Based Structural Repair
- Naghmeh Zamani (M.S., graduated in 2018):
Robotic Tools for Training and Assessment of Orthopaedic Surgical Skills
- Jakub Patrick Mroczkowski (M.S., graduated in 2018):
Principles of Robotic Design Applied to Novel Methods for Cadaveric, Prosthetic, and Mechanical Testing
Undergraduate Students
Undergraduate Students
Emiliano Mota (Sep. 2025 -): Development of Wildlife Monitoring Rover
Niall Devlin (Sep. 2024 - ): Development of Wildlife Monitoring Rover
Julian Martinez (Sep. 2024 - ): Development of Wildlife Monitoring Rover
Ethan Brook (Sep. 2024 - ): Development of Wildlife Monitoring Rover
Nicholas McGrane (Sep. 2024 - ): Development of Wildlife Monitoring Rover
Seth Diaz (Jan. 2023 - May 2023): Field Robot Development
Eleanor Rightley (Jan. 2023 - May 2023): Field Robot Development
Darren Marcelino (Sep. 2022 - Dec. 2022): Optimal Microgrid Operation via Distributed Resource Estimation and Microgrid Network Design
Drew Raymond (Sep. 2022 - Dec. 2022): Optimal Microgrid Operation via Distributed Resource Estimation and Microgrid Network Design
Jakobe Ochoa (Aug. 2022 - Dec. 2022, sponsored by NMT Sophomore Research Program):
Mason Crabtree (Amarillo College, Summer 2022 under the NSF REU program): Experimental Research of an Autonomous Mobile Robot for Precision Assignments
Hosman Caraveo-Macias (Oct. 2021 - May 2022): Development of an Autonomous Multi-Robot System
Trung Le (Jun. 2021 - Dec. 2022 / 2021 UROCK Fellowship Awardee under Dr. Lee's supervision): Analysis of a Hybrid Drone System
Vivian Su (University of Utah, Summer 2021 under the NSF REU program): Solar Charging System for Sustainable Operations of Mobile Robots
Jesse Montano (Feb. 2021 - May 2022 / 2021 UROCK Fellowship Awardee under Dr. Lee's supervision): Investigation of LiDAR sensor
Troy Sims (Feb. 2021 - Apr. 2021): Development of an Autonomous Multi-Robot System
Roman Baca (Feb. 2021 - Apr. 2021): Development of an Autonomous Multi-Robot System
Stephanie Weber (University of Florida, Summer 2019 under the NSF REU program): Implementation of the central limit theorem to sensor fusion in drone applications
Jacob Langford (May 2019 - May 2020): Drone manufacturing and controller design for precision landing
Geronimo Macias (Mar. 2019 - Nov. 2019 / NMT ME Undergrad Research Awardee): Formation control of multi-agent systems
Emilio Herrera (Feb. 2019 - May 2019): Drone swarming
Brendan O'Brien (Feb. 2019 - May 2019): Automatic battery replacement system
Corey Dotson (Feb. 2019 - May 2019): Drone swarming
Dan Puckett (Feb. 2019 - May 2019): Drone manufacturing
James Nolan (Feb. 2019 - May 2019): Drone manufacturing
Michael Lin (Oct. 2018 - May 2020 / NMT ME Design Clinic Awardee): Sensor development for drone precision landing
Christopher Vigil (Mar. 2018 - May 2019): Drone precision landing
William Martin (Mar. 2018 - Jan. 2019): Wireless charging station
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