Systems, Man & Cybernetics - July 2015 - 65

research community. Future research
projects of mine may focus on challenges related to robot learning for
acquisition of particular skills or novel
solutions to problems. Other projects
may address robot adaptation to new
environments as well as adaptation
during long-duration missions to maintain performance as subsystem components degrade or fail. Such projects
would focus on filling individual robot
capability gaps in technology readiness for complex missions.
However, future research projects
of a systems nature are also becoming more important to pursue. Robotics is still a young field, but research
is still its dominant activity. Together, robot engineering and robotics
are maturing to a point where the
problems requiring more research
attention are rising in scope to system-level concerns. In effect, the field
is graduating from the fundamental
research due to accumulation of significant developments in functional
capabilities and multiple subsystem
integration. The increasing numbers
of real-world applications are also
magnifying the importance of systems engineering. That is, systemslevel considerations are becoming
essential to transitioning robotics
research products into engineering
practice. With this in mind, future
resea rch project s w i l l i nclude
systems modeling of robot and
human-robot teams for an effective
integration into (and analysis within)
the larger systems of systems. Furthermore, in anticipation of robotic systems becoming increasingly
autonomous, future research projects
will necessarily address the science
of testing and evaluating potential
nondeterministic decision making
and emergent behavior of autonomous robots against more traditional
system requirements.
SMCM: What motivates you to do
research and volunteer?
Tunstel: For me, research is
a natural extension of the inquisitive mind that drew me to engineering. The cycle of posing scientific

and otherwise "what-if" questions
followed by thought exercises and
experiments that, on occasion, lead
to new knowledge is intellectually
stimulating and garners a degree of
self-satisfaction when I have contributed to the process. Transforming
inquisitiveness into eventual contributions to the broader body of scientific knowledge is exhilarating,
frankly, and it reinforces a sense of
vocational purpose. I also welcome
and am motivated by intellectual
challenges (or, more accurately,
surmounting them). Being engaged
in a young field of interest such as
robotics, which requires research
to advance, I am presented with a
rich intellectual challenge and the
prospect of finding ways to contribute to that advancement. While this
alone could be adequate motivation
for my research career, I am further
motivated by membership in a growing international community of likeminded researchers. Ultimately, I do
research to fulfill the role I have chosen as an engineer-to solve technical problems enabling creation of
new things.
I view volunteering as a service
to the profession and a way to help
engineering societies to benefit the
careers and development of their
members, enhancing their abilities to
be effective contributors to society at
large. Therefore, I volunteer to contribute to the broader impact on the
profession. I am also motivated to volunteer as a way to impact and contribute to the goals of organizations with
which I volunteer and to enhance my
professional development.
SMCM: Who are your role models
and why?
Tunstel: Growing up, I had no
role models who led me to choose
my career (although I was inspired
by fictional comic book characters,
such as Tony Stark, the billionaire
and ingenious engineer who created
and became the superhero Iron Man).
I also had no family members with
careers similar to what I pursued. In
this regard, my first role models were
Ju ly 2015

the engineering professors I encountered as an undergraduate at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
They represented the first examples
of engineering success stories with
which I was acquainted. The fact that
a number of them were Howard University alumni motivated me to persist in the engineering program. As
they all earned doctoral degrees in
engineering, I was further convinced
by their example that attaining the
Ph.D. degree in engineering and
establishing a career as an engineer
were attainable aspirations. Later, my
graduate school advisors at Howard
University (Prof. Naren Vira) and the
University of New Mexico (Prof. Mo
Jamshidi) served as mentors in my
field of study.
SMCM: How did you get started volunteering with IEEE and elsewhere?
Tunstel: My first volunteer roles
with the IEEE were as a reviewer of
conference papers and as a program
committee member for the IEEE
International Conference on Robotics and Automation and the IEEE
International Conference on Fuzzy
Systems. My Ph.D. advisor, Prof. Jamshidi, who was the general chair for
the former and closely affiliated with
the latter at that time, introduced
me to those roles. He was also very
active in organizing other international conferences for which I would
volunteer to support. Those volunteer
roles allowed me to expand my professional network while also learning
about conference organization and
associated best practices and areas
of possible improvement. Therefore, I
continued to volunteer for conference
organizational activities in subsequent years, often through collaboration with Prof. Jamshidi.
It was during his term as the
SMCS vice president for conferences
and meetings, and as general chair
during planning and organization
of SMC 2005, that I was drawn into
more responsible volunteer roles
with the IEEE SMCS. Prior to volunteering more with the SMCS, I had
also been active in the IEEE Robotics

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