Dr. Nhut Tan Ho
Ellie Kazemi
Joe Bautista
Gina Masequesmay
Xiaojun (Ashley) Geng
Suzanne Scheld
Kevin T Zemlicka
Maria-rita R D'orsogna
Bingbing Li
Christoph Schaal
Li Liu
Kyle Dewey
Autonomy Research Center for STEM
Project Type:
Research
Project Sponsors:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA
Project Award:
- $7,749,889
Project Timeline:
2019-09-01 – 2022-08-31
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California State University, Northridge proposes to establish the Autonomy Research Center for STEM (ARCS), a sustainable multidisciplinary university center of excellence that will significantly contribute to NASA?s research in autonomy for civil aviation and space exploration, while transitioning and commercializing research results to address pressing industry and societal needs. In collaboration with researchers at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center and Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), the project team has developed a Convergence Research agenda that addresses three mutually supportive thrusts: (i) Assured Autonomy, Testing and Evaluation of Increasingly Autonomous (IA) Systems, (ii) Human Autonomy Teaming, Explainable AI, and Trusted Autonomy; and (iii) Societal and Organizational Impact, Barriers, and Acceptance of IA Systems. These thrusts will be explored in the context of two NASA Concepts of Operations (ConOps): Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and Space Construction (SC). Through these projects, ARCS will contribute to NASA capabilities for assuring real-time trustworthiness of IA systems, methods and technologies that support human-IA teaming; and models and guidelines for taking into account non-technology-related (social, cultural) and technology-related (noise, emission) factors on public acceptance of IA systems and their integration into society. ARCS has high prospects for meeting both MIRO and CSUN?s research-capacity-building aims by: (i) pioneering and institutionalizing a culture of Convergence Research that involves participation of faculty and students from the following six (of eight) Colleges at CSUN: Engineering and Computer Science, Social and Behavioral Sciences, Science and Mathematics, Arts and Media and Communication, Business and Economics, and Humanities; (ii) engaging more than 400 undergraduate and graduate students in faculty directed research as paid Fellows, for course credit, and as volunteers; (iii) committing CSUN institutional investment to establish an integrated research infrastructure supporting live and virtual IA operations, and forming and growing a thriving ecosystem of multi-collaborator strategic partnerships (NASA Armstrong, JPL, DoD Labs, Industry, R1 universities, Community Colleges, the CSU system) and integrated multi-sited research facilities; (iv) providing a base for hiring 5 faculty members in NASA strategic initiatives; and (v) developing faculty and student knowledge and skills through: a) engagement in NASA-related research and outreach opportunities, b) professional development in innovative team science and technology transition, commercialization, and entrepreneurship, and c) curriculum enhancement in the six Colleges.