« Back to People Page


About Me

I work on Autonomous Systems and develop solutions in AI and Robotics. I direct the Vehicle Autonomy and Intelligence Lab (VAIL) at Indiana University - Bloomington.

Before joining Indiana University in 2017, I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Southern California since 2015. I also spent two years as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Field Robotics Center of Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University during 2013-2015. I obtained my PhD from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University in 2013.

Some Recent/Past Activities

2026-06: now Full Professor.

2026: Area chairs for these conferences: RSS, CoRL, AAAI.

2025-10: I start serving as an Associate Editor for The International Journal of Robotics Research (IJRR).

2025-8: I start serving as the Director for IU's new Robotics Program. We have openings for faculty Position. Information will be released soon.

2022-10: I start serving as an Associate Editor for Autonomous Robots (AURO) journal.

2022-06: I start serving as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE).

2019-10: I co-organized a TED-talk style AI workshop on "Indiana National Lab Day" in Indianaplis. We had a selective list of speakers who are renowned professors and scientists from University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, Indiana Innovation Institute, Indiana University, as well as Program Directors from 5 National Labs in different regions of US.

2017-04: I co-organized the second Southern California Robotics Symposium (SCR 2017) which was held on the beautiful campus of USC on April 14, 2017. This year's event has been a big success and we had over 300 attendees. There were 15 speakers, 25 accepted posters, and 16 exhibition booths, from both academia and industry.

2016-04: I co-organized the inaugural Southern California Robotics Symposium (SCR 2016) that was held on the campus of UCSD on 4/22, 2016. We achieved a great success, with an amazing line-up of speakers and around 300 participants.



Course(s) Teaching in Fall 2026

CSCI-B 355 / ENGR-E 399: Autonomous Robotics

This course introduces the foundational theories, methods, and technologies underlying modern autonomous robots. Topics include robotic system modeling, basic control, motion planning, learning and reasoning. Students will complete several coding assignments and projects, so prior programming experience (at least in Python) is expected. Projects will make use of simulation tools to implement and test algorithms. Course materials are provided at IU Canvas.


Courses Taught in the Past

E399/599: Autonomous Robots; Fall 2020-2025

E502/399: Introduction to Cyber-Physical Systems; Spring 2018-2026; Fall 2019

E503/399: Introduction to Intelligent Systems; Fall 2018

E599: Special topics on Autonomous Robotics Planning and Learning; Fall 2017

E500: Seminar Course: Introduction to Intelligent Systems Engineering (co-instructor); Fall 2017-2020


For Prospective Students

If you are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. under my supervision, thank you for your interest in our research. I am always looking for highly motivated students with strong backgrounds in robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, control, or related fields. To determine whether our research interests align, I encourage you to first review my recent publications and current research projects. If you find a strong match with your interests, please send me your CV/resume, academic transcripts, and a brief description of your research interests. Due to many inquiries I receive, I may not be able to respond to every email, and I appreciate your understanding.

Motivated Indiana University undergraduate and master's students are also welcome to become involved in my research group. I strongly encourage interested students to take one of my courses first. This helps build the necessary technical foundation while also allowing me to better understand your interests, abilities, and work ethic. Before contacting me, please review my research areas and identify one or two topics that particularly interest you. When reaching out, include your CV/resume, transcripts, and the research topics you would like to explore. If there is a potential match, we can arrange a meeting to discuss possible research opportunities.

Please note that I do not manage teaching assistant (TA) assignments and have no influence over TA hiring decisions. Therefore, please do not contact me regarding TA positions.