Former MESA Lab Members

Caibin Zeng

Visiting CSC Ph.D. Student, SCUT

Caibin Zeng is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student, and his interest includes fractional calculus, fractional Brownian motion, fractional order stochastic systems, modeling crowded dynamics, data analysis.

Dr. Aiming Ge

Visiting Professor

Dr. Aiming Ge is an Associate Professor in the Department of Light Sources & Illuminating Engineering, School of Information Science and Engineering, at Fudan University, Shanghai, China, where he taught Photoelectric Testing Technology, Mechanical Drawing and CAD and Applied Optics. His primary research focus is in the theory and technology of photoelectric systems, including optical components and optical system design, precision optical test technology, light and lighting technology and LED lighting. He arrived in the United States in March 2012, as a visiting scholar at Utah State University before coming to University of California, Merced as a visiting scholar and Associate Project Scientist, for the research of Cognitive Hybrid Lighting Control System.

Ms. Chun Yin

Visiting CSC Ph.D. Student, 2011-2013

Chun Yin is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student, and her interest includes fractional calculus, fractional order extremum seeking control, fractional-order sliding mode control, fractional order stability analysis, nonlinear system analysis and cognitive lighting control.

(Best paper award, outstanding graduate award)

Dr. Jiaguo Liu, Visiting Professor, April 2013

Fractional Order Mechanics (FOMech). Micro-macro scale mechanisms of FOMech systems.

Taizhi (John) Lyu. Exchange Ph.D. student/visiting scholar. April 2013 - June 2014

Youssef Kohen. Exchange Student, June to Sept. 2014. CRONE France.
Fuel cell battery and/for small UAS.

Dr. Thomas Oppenheim, Postdoc Research Fellow. May 2014 to August 2014.

Dr. Zhanbing Bai. Visiting Professor, August 2013 to August 2014.

Dr. Jiacai Huang, Visiting Professor, March 2014 to Sept. 2014.

Mr. Jianxiong Cao, CSC Exchange Ph.D. student, Shanghai University, Sept. 2013-October 2014
Fractional dynamics. FO-DiffMAS-2D. DRONEMATH.

Dr. GuiMei Zhang, Visiting Professor, Dec. 2013-Dec. 2014

Real-time vision and image processing.

Dr. Xiaodong Sun, CSC Visiting Professor, Feb. 2014-Feb. 2015.

Fractional Order Physiological Signal Processing in Human-Automation Systems; Fractional Fields.

Dr. Zhigang Lian, Visiting Professor, March 2014-March 2015.

Modeling and control of renewable energy systems. Optimal random search.

Xiaobao Jia. Visiting Scholar, March 2014-March 2015.

Occupant-engaged high performance energy efficient building. Human-in-the-loop control. MPC.

Dr. Jun Chu. Visiting Professor. Nov. 2014 - Nov. 2015. (Mar. 15)

Image Processing.

Dr. Norelys Aguila Camacho. Visiting Scholar. April 2015-May 2015.

Energy efficient fractional order control of mining processes

Ms. Yanan Qiu, CSC Exchange Ph.D. student, NWPU, Fall 2013

Mechatronics and controls. LPV and gain scheduling control.

Niloufar Irannejad

Visiting Graduate Student, Jan. 2014-

HIL Mechatronics, MESABox apps.

Niloufar Irannejad is a graduate student at the university of Bremerhaven that has been working in MESA Lab as a visiting scholar for almost one year under the supervision of Prof. Chen. Her field of expertise controls and she works on control of haptic devices and human in the loop.

Prior to UC Merced, she was working at Airbus as an engineer to develop safety and security systems. She also has the work experience in production planning and system control at Bosch GmbH in Germany.

Prof. Dr. Jianxin Liu. Visiting Scholar, Sept. 2014 to Aug. 2015.

Smart fuel cell system for smart unmanned systems (modeling, control and testing); Real-time vision based control and navigation.

Prof. Liyan Qiao
CSC Visiting Scholar at MESA in UC Merced,

September 2014-September 2015

Liyan Qiao received the B.S. in Radio Engineering from the Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 1992, the M.S. in Communication and Electronics System from the Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 1996, and the Ph.D. degree in Instrumentation Science and Technology from the Harbin Institute of Technology, China, in 2005. He is the automatic test and control faculty of the school of Electrical Engineering and Automation at Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China. His interests include automatic test system, data acquiring technic through internet, flash storage system and signal analysis.

Fudong Ge. Exchange Ph.D. student.

Oct. 2014 - Oct. 2015.

Stability and control of fractional order systems. Fractional order modeling. DRONEMATH.

Prof. Dr. Jianwu Dang. Visiting Professor. Dec. 2014-Dec. 2015.

Fractional Order Signal Processing for Social and Economical Signals.

Jianhong Wang. Visiting Scholar. Exchange Ph.D. student.

Jan. 2015-July 2015.

Fractional Order Signal Processing. Wind turbine fault diagnosis using fractional order data analytics

Ms. Juan Chen. Visiting Scholar. Exchange Ph.D. student.

March 2015-Sept. 2015.

Mobile Actuator and Sensor Networks. DRONEMATH. IoT.

Dr. Cuihong Wang. Visiting Scholar.

March 2015-July 2015.

Fractional Order Controls, LMI

Prof. Dr. Hua Chen. CSC Visiting Scholar.

April 2015-May 2016.

Fractional Order Controls. FOG-PSS

Dr. Jianbing Hu

and Dr. Zhao, Ling-Dong

Fractional Order Controls.

Dr. Yang, Qi, CSC Visiting Scholar

Advanced mechatronics, human factor and FOSP (fractional order signal processing)

Prof. Dr. Yanzhu Zhang, CSC Visiting Scholar

Fractional order image processing and pattern recognition

Mr. Haoran Zhao, CSC Exchange Ph.D. student (12 months)

Aug. 15 - Aug. 16

Compressive Remote Sensing involving tools from fractional calculus

Mr. Lun Zhai, CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (12 months)

Fractional Order Iterative Learning Observations and Controls, Battery Management Systems

Prof. Dr. Libao Deng

Embedded RIOTS, MPC, MESAbox Apps

Prof. Dr. JunSheng Duan

Fractional order differential equations. FOCV

Mr. Shuo Zhang, Exchange Ph.D. Student (6 months)

LTV fractional order systems and control, fractional order stochasticity. Fractional order stochastic modeling and control in cyber-physical systems, taming intermittency and spiciness.

Mr. Zhao Yao, Visiting Scholar (6 months)

Human-centric motion control with nonlinearities with memories.

Mr. Bo Zhuang Exchange Ph.D. Student (6 months)

Multi-agent source seeking control, mobile actuators and sensors networks (MAS-net) in distributed parameter systems (DPS)

Ms. Lu Liu. CSC Exchange Ph.D. student.

Jan. 2015-Jan. 2017

MIMO Precision Temperature Tracking Control

Mr. Xiaohui Li Exchange Ph.D. student(6 months).

Oct. 2016- Apr. 2017

Iterative Learning Control;

Fractional Order Systems.

Prof.Dr.Xiaohong Wang CSC Visiting Scholar(12 months) Aug. 2016- Aug. 2017

Fractional Order High Performance Control in Power Electronic Systems.

Mr. Bo Shang, CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (24 months)

Advanced mechatronics, UTM, multiview visual tracking, smart photogrammetry,SmartCaveDrones

Mr. Kai Liu, CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (24 months)

Kai Liu is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing (CUMTB). His research interest is MIMO Precision Temperature Uniformity Control.

Ms. Binbin He Exchange Ph.D. student(12 months).

Sep. 2016- Sep. 2017

Control theory of fractional order systems.

Prof. Shixiong Zhang Visiting Scholar (12 months).

Sep.2016-Sep.2017

Shixiong Zhang is an associate professor in the Henan University of Technology. He studies in MESA Lab as a visiting scholar funded by State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs P.R. China. His main research interests conclude motion control, power source, industrial automation, etc.

Prof. Dr. Wenjing Zhang CSC Visiting Scholar(12 months).

Oct. 2016 - Nov. 2017

Wenjing Zhang is with School of Electronic and Information Engineering at Beijing Jiaotong University. He received the B.S. in Automation from Beijing Jiaotong University, China, in 1999, the M.S. in Traffic Information Engineering and Control from Beijing Jiaotong University, China, in 2004, and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Application Technology from Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2007. His research interests include adaptive control theory, fractional order control, train operation control, high speed magnetic levitation train control and servo control.

Dr. Yunning Zhang CSC visiting Scholar (12 months).

Dec. 2016- Dec. 2017

unning Zhang received the B.S. and M.S. in automation from the Chongqing University, China, in 2003 and 2006, and the Ph.D. degree in control science and engineering from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China, in 2014. Her main research interests include modeling, analysis and control of micro-grid and multi microgrid systems using fractional calculus.

Dr. Xinxin Shi Visiting Scholar (6 months)

Jul. 2017-Jan. 2018

Xinxin Shi graduated from Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NJUST), China, in 2007. She received the Ph. D. degree in mechatronic control engineering from NJUST in 2012. She is currently an associate professor at the School of Automation, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing, China. Her research interests include fractional-order control, precision motion control of the linear motor, active disturbance rejection control, and robotics.

Erick de la Rosa is a Ph.D. candidate at the Automatic Control Department at CINVESTAV, Mexico City, Mexico.

He received an M.Sc. degree in automatic control theory from the same institution in 2014. His research interests include applied fractional calculus, deep learning, system identification, robotics and bionics.

Prof. Song Zheng CSC visiting scholar (12 months)

Mar. 2017-Mar. 2018

Song Zheng is currently an Associate Professor with the School of Data Sciences, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou, China. His current research interests include complex networks, multi-agent systems, nonlinear systems, and nonlinear dynamics

Mr. Abdullah Ates Exchange Ph.D. student

Abdullah Ates received his B. Sc. Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Erciyes University in 2011. He received his master degree in Computer Engineering from Inonu University in 2013. His research interests include analytical and numerical optimization algorithms, fractional order control systems, fractional order calculus and its application, linear and nonlinear optimization algorithms and flight control.

Mr. Guojian Ren CSC Exchange Ph. D. Student (12 months)

Sep. 2017-Sep. 2018

Guojian Ren is a CSC visiting Ph. D. student from Beijing Jiao Tong University. His interest includes fractional stability analysis, controlled networked systems and continuous-time random walks.

Mr. Ruiyang Cai CSC Exchange Ph.D. student(12 months)
Oct. 2017- Oct. 2018

Ruiyang Cai is a visiting Ph.D. student from Donghua University (DHU). His current research interests include stability analysis, control theory and its applications in fractional order systems.

Ms. Yang Zhao Visiting student (12 months)
Sep. 2017 - Sep.2018

Yang Zhao is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Control Science and Engineering at Shandong University, Jinan, China. She received her M.S. degree in control engineering from the School of Control Science and Engineering at Shandong University, Jinan, China, in 2011. Her research interests include applied fractional calculus in control, iterative learning control, system identification and robotics.

Dr. Jie Shen Visiting Scholar(12 months) Aug. 2017- Aug. 2018

Dr. Jie Shen received a Ph.D. degree in control theory and application from Southeast University in 2006. He has been an associate professor with college of electrical engineering and control science, Nanjing Tech University, China. His research interests include human behavior recognition, formation control/coordination of UGV/UAV, cognitive control.

Prof. Yongjiang Luo CSC Visiting Scholar(12 months)
Sep. 2017 - Sep. 2018

Yongjiang Luo is currently an associate professor with the School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an, China. His current research interests include fractional-order signal processing, compress sensing and array signal processing.

Mr. YongGe Yang CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (24 months).
Aug.2016- Aug. 2018

YongGe Yang is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from Northwestern Polytechnical University. His interest includes fractional calculus and stochastic source seeking.

Ms. Jie Yuan CSC Exchange Ph.D. student(24 months).

Sep. 2016 - Sep. 2018

Jie Yuan is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from Southeast University(SEU). Her research interest is the fractional order process control.

Mr. Liping Chen is a CSC visiting scholar from Hefei University of Technology.

Oct. 2017-Oct. 2018

His current research interests include the areas of fractional-order systems and nonlinear dynamical systems.

Mr. Liguo Yuan CSC visiting scholar (12 months)

Dec. 2017-Dec. 2018

Liguo Yuan is a visiting scholar from South China Agricultural University, associate professor. His interests include fractional calculus, chaos and bifurcation, optimization algorithm.

Prof. Junwei Tian CSC Visiting Scholar comes from Xi'an Technological University(XATU), Xi'an, China

Feb. 2018 - Feb. 2019

Junwei Tian received Ph.D. degree in Control Science and Engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 2009 and is currently a professor of XATU, director of Mechatronics and Information Systems Institute, head of the Special Function Robotics Research Center. His research interests include computer vision, special function robot, computer aided measuring and control, Mechatronics etc.

Mr. Yongguang Yu Visiting professor from Beijing Jiaotong University

Feb. 2019-Mar. 2019

He has been a professor and vice dean, School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, China. His research interests include Fractional order dynamics and application, chaotic dynamics, Neural network, Complex networks, nonlinear control, Stochastic dynamics, Artificial intelligence optimization algorithm.

Ms. Kunhua Zhang Visiting scholar (6 months)

Jan. 2019-Jul. 2019

Kunhua Zhang is a visiting scholar from Shenzhen University, associate professor. Her interests include image processing, computer vision, target recognition, and tracking.

Mr. Baowei Wu Visiting scholar (2 months)

Jun. 22.2019-Aug. 25. 2019

Baowei Wu is a full professor in School of Mathematics and Information Science from Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China.
His research interests include switched systems, positive systems, fractional order systems and time delay systems.

Mr. Piotr Oziablo visiting Ph.D. student

1st of June 2019 - 31st of August 2019.

Piotr Oziablo is a visiting Ph.D. student from Bialystok University of Technology (Poland). His research interests include fractional-, variable-order systems, PID control, and network control systems with random jitter delays.

Ms. YaJuan Yu Visiting Scholar Teacher (12 months).

Sep. 2018-Sep. 2019.

YaJuan Yu is a Visiting Scholar from Changzhou University, Changzhou, China. Her research interests include memristive systems and its application, fractional-order nonlinear dynamics system.

Ms. Limei Liu Visiting Scholar (6 months).

Feb. 2019-Sep. 2019.

Limei Liu is a Visiting Scholar from Shenyang Institute of Engineering, Shenyang, China. Her research interests include power load forecasting, fault diagnosis, optimization algorithm, fractional order control.

Ms.Chiayi Lee Exchange Undergraduate Student (1 month)

July 30,2019 to Sept. 1,2019

Chiayi Lee is an undergraduate student from Beihang University, Beijing, China. Her research interests include autonomous robots, 3D imaging, and the science of stochastic search.

Mr. Yuquan Chen CSC Exchange Ph.D. student (24 months)

Sep. 2017 - Sep. 2019

Yuquan is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). His research interests include fractional order systems, sliding mode control, fractional order CTRW and its application in source seeking.

Ms. Yanan Wang CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (12 months).

Sep.2018-Sep.2019

Yanan Wang is a CSC visiting Ph.D. Student from Beijing Institute of Technology. Her interest includes fractional battery charging, fractional battery estimation, wireless power transmission.

Mr.Zhenlong Wu Exchanged P.H.D Student (12 months).

Sep.2018-Sep.2019

Zhenlong Wu is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from Tsinghua University.
His interest includes active disturbance rejection control, fractional PID control and their application to the thermal process.

Miss Jiamin Wei CSC Exchange Ph.D. student (12 months).

Sep.2018-Sep.2019

Jiamin Wei is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from Beijing Jiaotong University. Her interest includes evolutionary computation, global optimization, chaos control and synchronization, and their applications.

Mr.Weihua Mao CSC visiting scholar (12 months)

Dec.2018-Dec.2019

Weihua Mao is a visiting scholar from South China Agricultural University, associate professor. His interests include stochastic complex system stability analysis, filtering, and control; fractional-order system and control.

Mr. Senping Tian Visiting professor (1 month).

Dec. 2019-Jan. 2020

Senping Tian is a professor at the School of Automation Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, China. His research interests include theory and algorithms on iterative learning control for nonlinear systems, optimization and control of large-scale systems, the stability and the qualitative theory of differential equations.

Mrs. Dongmei Zhang Visiting Scholar (6 months).

Sep. 2019-Mar. 2020.

Dongmei Zhang received her Ph.D. degree in Control Theory and Control Engineering from Zhejiang University of Technology of China in 2018 and she is currently a professor. Her research interests include the networked multi-agent system control, Estimation, and Filtering Theory.

Ms. Lihong Guo CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (24 months).

Sep. 2018-Sep. 2020.

Lihong Guo is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from Jilin University, Changchun, China. Her research interests include fractional calculus and its application, nonlinear dynamical system and fractional stochastic source seeking.

Ms. Tian Feng is a CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (24 months).

Sep.2018-Sep.2020

Tian Feng is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, China. Her interest includes the stability of fractional-order systems and switched systems.

Mr. Peng Wang CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (24 months).

Sep.2018-sep.2020

Peng Wang is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from Nanjing Forestry University. His interest includes fractional order control for an unmanned ground vehicle.

Mr. Panpan Gu CSC Exchange Ph.D. Student (24 months).

Sep.2018-sep.2020

Panpan Gu is a CSC visiting Ph.D. student from the South China University of Technology. His interest includes fractional-order learning control and fractional order distributed parameter systems.

Mr. Yiheng Wei Visiting Scholar (12 months).

Mar. 2019-Mar. 2020.

Yiheng Wei received his Ph.D. degree in Control Science and Engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2015 and he is currently an associate professor of USTC. His research interests include discrete fractional system theory, fractional learning algorithm, fractional initial value problem.

Ms. Yuxin Gao Visiting Scholar (12months)

Mar. 2019-Mar. 2020

Yuxin Gao received her B.E. degree in Computer Science and Technology from Zhengzhou University in 2016 and she is currently pursuing her master's degree in the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Her research interests include applied fractional calculus, computational law, and the application of data science in law.

Mr. Jun Miao CSC visiting scholar (12 months)

Jun. 2019-Jun. 2020

Jun Miao is a visiting scholar from Nanchang Hangkong University, associate professor. His research interests include 3D reconstruction from images, pattern recognition, and image processing.

Ms. Lihua Lu Visiting Scholar (12 months).

Sep. 2019-Sep. 2020.

Lihua Lu received her Ph.D. degree in Computer Software and Theory from Fudan University in 2015 and she is currently an associate professor of Shanghai Dianji University (SDJU). Her research interests include machine learning, optimization models and engineering applications in the shipping logistics transportation field.

Mr. Weiyuan Ma Visiting Scholar (12 months).

Sep. 2019-Sep. 2020.

Weiyuan Ma received his Ph.D. degree in Computational Mathematics from the Lanzhou University of China in 2016 and he is currently an associate professor of Northwest Minzu University. His research interests include control and synchronization in fractional complex networks.

Mr. Zhifu Li Visiting Scholar (12 months).

Oct. 2019-Oct. 2020.

Zhifu Li received his Ph.D. degree in Control Science and Engineering from the South China University of Technology in 2012 and he is currently an associate professor at Guangzhou University. His research interests include Applied Fractional Calculus, Nonlinear Control, and Its Application, Swarm Intelligence Optimization.

Brandon Stark

Ph.D. Student, Founding Member, Lab Manager, EECS

Brandon Stark received his Bachelors of Science in Computer Engineering at University of California, Irvine in 2007, and Masters of Science in Computer Engineering and Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering at University of Bridgeport in 2010. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California, Merced with the Mechatronics, Embedded Systems and Automation (MESA) Lab, where he acts as the Lab Manager. His research interests include Unmanned Aerial Systems, Mechatronic Systems, Human-Automation Interaction and BBQ. His favorite candy is Sour Patch Kids.

Brendan Smith

Ph.D. Student, Fall 2013, ME

Brendan Smith is a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Merced. He received his B.S. and M.S. in ME from the University of California, Merced in 2013 and 2016, respectively. Brendan began his research with Mechatronics, Embedded Systems, and Automation (MESA) Lab in Fall 2012, during his senior year of undergraduate career. At MESA, Brendan performs research on unmanned aerial systems (UASs) with an emphasis in in-situ environmental sampling. At present, Brendan performs his Ph.D. research at NASA JPL, studying the integration, application and data analysis of a sub-part per million methane sensing UAS payload. The scope of this research encompasses the surveillance, localization and quantification of fugitive gas leaks in natural gas infrastructure. Brendan’s interests include UAVs, robotics, R/C systems, and sustainable systems.

Tiebiao Zhao

Ph.D. Candidate, Fall 2013, ME

Tiebiao Zhao received the B.S. in Automation from Yantai University, China, in 2009, and the M.S. in Automation from University of Science and Technology of China in 2012. Now, he is pursuing the Ph.D. degree in UC Merced.

He is interested in fractional calculus, model predictive control and their applications in industry process control. He is the builder for the gen-4 RIOTS now running on Win 8 MATLAB mex64. Most recently, his focus is on scientific data-drone research within the CPS (cyber-physical systems) framework.

Marwin Ko

MSc. Student, Fall 2013, ME

Marwin Ko graduated from the University of California, Merced in Spring 2013 with a B.S. degree in Bioengineering. In 2012, he was an intern under the COINS (Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems) at UC Merced where he engineered nano-fibril stem cell scaffolds using an electrospinner. He is currently pursuing his M.S. in Bioengineering under the BEST (Bioengineering & Small-scale Technologies) program at UC Merced. His research interests include Biological Sensors and Human-Automation Interaction.

Duval Johnson

Ph.D. Student. Fall 2014, ME.

His capstone project site NavyGator. Emphasis: EV + Fuel Cell + Autonomy + Fractional Order Mechanics (MRF)

Jose Alcala

Ph.D. Student, Fall 2017 Mechanical Engineering

Jose Alcala received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from U.C. Merced. Next, he directedly worked with Autonomous Vehicles in Pittsburg, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate in Mechanical Engineering and his advisor is Dr. YangQuan Chen. He is an active member of the Mechatronics, Embedded Systems, and Automation(MESA) lab at U.C. Merced His interested are in Mechatronics, Control Systems with a focus in Unmanned Aerial Systems. He was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship for Intelligent and Adaptive Systems. He was a team member in the Unmanned Autonomous Ground Vehicle(UAGV) teams which won honorable mention in the 2016 Big Ideas Competition.

Garrett John

Junior Research Specialist

Garrett is a third year undergrad at University of California, Merced. He is currently pursuing his BS in Mechanical Engineering with hopes of pursuing a career in the automotive or aerospace field. His interests include unmanned aerial vehicles, sustainable energy, and advanced robotics with a wide range of applications. He also plays for the UC Merced Club Baseball team.