Jongeun Choi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and of electrical and computer engineering, received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award. Choi received the award for his proposal, “Multi-Agent Systems and Gaussian Processes: Applications in Environmental Sciences.” He received a five-year $400,000 grant.

Choi’s work is in developing and analyzing distributed learning and cooperative control algorithms so that a network of mobile sensing vehicles can gather data and learn an unknown field of interest in order to perform specific tasks. Choi’s research has applications in the environmental sciences.

Due to recent drastic global climate changes, it is necessary to monitor the changing ecosystems over vast regions on land, in our oceans, and in our lakes, Choi explains.

“Emerging technologies in robotic sensor networks and field prediction algorithms can offer great potential to deal with such issues,” he says. “The main purpose of my work is to develop control algorithms for a network of mobile sensing vehicles to explore and predict an unknown field of interest.”

Applications include prediction and tracing of harmful algal blooms in lakes, toxic contaminants in public water systems, and pollutants in the air. “For instance, tracing and predicting harmful algal blooms in a lake could be accomplished using proposed algorithms and a network of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with fluorescence-based sensors,” Choi says.

In other applications, a group of autonomous mobile robots, combined with chemical warfare sensors, could be used for detecting a concentration field of chemical warfare agents.

The project offers training experiences for undergraduate and graduate students and provides opportunities to foster collaborative research with MSU’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Fisheries and Wildlife.

During summer residential programs sponsored by the College of Engineering’s Diversity Programs Office and the Office of Recruitment and K-12 Outreach, K-12 and underrepresented students will be able to try out some of the biologically inspired mobile robots – robots that mimic flocking birds or swimming fish – that have been developed in Choi’s lab.

The CAREER award, one of NSF’s most prestigious and competitive awards for junior researchers, recognizes those who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research.

Choi received a BS in mechanical design and production engineering from Yonsei University at Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 1998. He received his MS and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley in 2002 and 2006, respectively.

View Choi’s NSF award abstract at http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward.do?AwardNumber=0846547.

See Choi's video, talking about the significance of his NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award: http:news.msu.edu/story/6006/#.

To read more about Choi's research, see his Mechanical Engineering Profile: http://www.egr.msu.edu/me/people/profile/jchoi