IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Magazine - October 2019 - 30

to help improve this article. We also acknowledge the
support from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory
and Office of the Secretary of Defense under grant FA875015-2-0116.
About the Authors
Abdollah Homaifar (homaifar@ncat.edu) earned his B.S.
and M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from the State
University of New York at Stony Brook, in 1979 and 1980,
respectively, and his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, in 1987. He is
the NASA Langley Distinguished Professor and the Duke
Energy Eminent Professor in the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering at North Carolina A&T State
University, Greensboro (NCA&TSU). He is the director of
the Autonomous Control and Information Technology Institute and the Testing, Evaluation, and Control of Heterogeneous Large-Scale Systems of Autonomous Vehicles Center
at NCA&TSU. He is a member of the IEEE Control Systems
Society, Sigma Xi, Tau Beta Pi, and Eta Kapa Nu.
Ali Karimoddini (akarimod@ncat.edu) earned his B.S.
degree in electrical and electronics engineering from the
Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 2003,
and his M.S. degree in instrumentation and automation engineering from the Petroleum University of Technology,
Abadan, Iran, in 2007. In 2008, he began work on his Ph.D.
degree at the National University of Singapore, and in 2012,
he attended the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, to conduct his postdoctoral studies. In 2013, he joined North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&TSU), Greensboro, where
he is an associate professor in the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering. He is the director of the Autonomous Cooperative Control of Emergent Systems of Systems Laboratory and deputy director of the Testing, Evaluation, and Control of Heterogeneous Large-Scale Systems of
Autonomous Vehicles Center at NCA&TSU. He is a Senior
Member of the IEEE and a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, International Society
of Automation, and Vertical Flight Society (formerly the
American Helicopter Society).
Berat Alper Erol (baerol@ncat.edu) earned his B.S.
degree in mathematics from Kocaeli University, Turkey, his
M.S. degree in software engineering from St. Mary's University, San Antonio, Texas, and his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from The University of Texas at San Antonio, in 2007,
2012, and 2018, respectively. He is a postdoctoral research
associate at the Autonomous Control and Information Technology Institute at North Carolina A&T State University
(NCA&TSU), Greensboro. He is with the Testing, Evaluation,
and Control of Heterogeneous Large-Scale Systems of Autonomous Vehicles Center at NCA&TSU. He is a Member of the
IEEE, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics,
and IEEE Eta Kappa Nu honor society.
Mubbashar A. Khan (makhan1@ncat.edu) earned his
M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Bleaking Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden, in 2008; his M.B.A.
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IEEE SYSTEMS, MAN, & CYBERNETICS MAGAZINE O ctober 2019

degree from University of Findlay, Ohio, in 2013; and his
B.S. degree in computer systems engineering from the Comsats Institute of Information and Technology, Abbottabad,
Pakistan, in 2005. He earned his Ph.D. degree in engineering
from the University of Toledo, Ohio, in 2018. He is a postdoctoral scholar at the Autonomous Cooperative Control of
Emergent Systems of Systems Laboratory and the Autonomous Control and Information Technology Institute at
North Carolina A&T State University (NCA&TSU), Greensboro. He is with the Testing, Evaluation, and Control of Heterogeneous Large-Scale Systems of Autonomous Vehicles
Center at NCA&TSU.
Edward Tunstel (tunstel@ieee.org) earned his B.S.
and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Howard
University, Washington, D.C., and his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque. He is an associate director of robotics at the
United Technologies Research Center, East Hartford, Connecticut. He was previously a senior robotics engineer,
group leader of the Advanced Robotic Controls Group, and
flight systems engineer for autonomous navigation, mobility, and robotic arm subsystems for NASA Mars Exploration
Rover missions at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, California. He is the 2018-2019 president of the
IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society and a Fellow
of the IEEE.
Russell L. Roberts (rusty.roberts@gtri.gatech.edu)
earned his B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the
United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, his
M.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, and his M.B.A degree in finance
from Long Island University, Brookville, New York. He is the
director of the Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute
(GTRI), Atlanta. Prior to joining GTRI, he served as an active
duty U.S. Army Signal Corps officer for 10 years, with assignments at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and Kaiserslautern, Germany.
His last assignment was at the U.S. Military Academy at West
Point. During his tour at West Point, he became the course
director for the senior-level, two-semester electronics course
for the department. He continued to serve in the Army
Reserve after leaving Active Duty while at GTRI.
Reed F. Young (reed.young@jhuapl.edu) earned his
B.S. degree from the University of Nevada, Reno, and his
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical engineering from
Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, in 1986, 1988,
and 2011, respectively. He is a senior professional staff
member at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, where he serves as the program manager for robotics and autonomy, including
research projects in robotics, autonomy, the testing of
autonomy, and human-machine interaction. He recently
retired as a colonel from the U.S. Army, serving in a variety
of research and acquisition assignments, including product
manager for robotic and unmanned systems, program manager for actuation, dynamics, and mechanisms at the U.S.

IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics Magazine - October 2019

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