Advisory Board
Randy Beard
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Randal W. Beard received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City in 1991, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1993, the M.S. degree in mathematics in 1994, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1995, all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Since 1996, he has been with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, where he is currently a professor. In 1997 and 1998, he was a Summer Faculty Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. In 2006 and 2007 he was a visiting research fellow at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Munitions Directorate, Eglin AFB, FL. His primary research focus is autonomous control of miniature air vehicles and multivehicle coordination and control. He is a past associate editor for the IEEE Control Systems Magazine and the Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, and is currently an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.
Randal W. Beard received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City in 1991, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1993, the M.S. degree in mathematics in 1994, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering in 1995, all from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Since 1996, he has been with the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, where he is currently a professor. In 1997 and 1998, he was a Summer Faculty Fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA. In 2006 and 2007 he was a visiting research fellow at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Munitions Directorate, Eglin AFB, FL. His primary research focus is autonomous control of miniature air vehicles and multivehicle coordination and control. He is a past associate editor for the IEEE Control Systems Magazine and the Journal of Intelligent and Robotic Systems, and is currently an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control.
Natalie Blades
Statistics
Natalie Blades received her A.B., Magna Cum Laude, in Mathematics from Wellesley College in 1997, her Master of Science in Engineering from the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering in 2001, and her Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2002. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at Brigham Young University and an associate in the Department of Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University. In 2007 and 2009, she received the J. Earl Faulkner Award for Outstanding Teaching in Statistics Graduate Courses and Graduate Mentoring from Brigham Young University.
Natalie Blades received her A.B., Magna Cum Laude, in Mathematics from Wellesley College in 1997, her Master of Science in Engineering from the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering in 2001, and her Ph.D. in Biostatistics from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 2002. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Statistics at Brigham Young University and an associate in the Department of Biostatistics at Johns Hopkins University. In 2007 and 2009, she received the J. Earl Faulkner Award for Outstanding Teaching in Statistics Graduate Courses and Graduate Mentoring from Brigham Young University.
Gus Hart
Physics and Astronomy
Gus Hart has contributed to a high-throughput framework for materials discovery, algorithm development for cluster expansion modeling of alloys, and a Bayesian compressive sensing approach for model building. He is a co-developer of the UNCLE code, a simulation package for modeling alloys. He has also developed the ENUM code for enumerating derivative superstructures (lattice configuration combinatorics) in collaboration with Rodney Forcade. He is currently funded by the NSF, NETL, and ONR-MURI and is looking for undergraduate and graduate students to collaborate with and have openings in my group for post-doctoral researchers.
Gus Hart has contributed to a high-throughput framework for materials discovery, algorithm development for cluster expansion modeling of alloys, and a Bayesian compressive sensing approach for model building. He is a co-developer of the UNCLE code, a simulation package for modeling alloys. He has also developed the ENUM code for enumerating derivative superstructures (lattice configuration combinatorics) in collaboration with Rodney Forcade. He is currently funded by the NSF, NETL, and ONR-MURI and is looking for undergraduate and graduate students to collaborate with and have openings in my group for post-doctoral researchers.
Tim McLain
Mechanical Engineering
Tim McLain is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University. He received BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from BYU and his PhD in mechanical engineering from Standford University. He joined BYU in 1995. With Randy Beard, he is the author of the textbook Small Unmanned Aircraft: Theory and Practice published in 2012 by Princeton University Press. He is currently the direct of the Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems under the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center program. Professor McLain is a senior member of IEEE, an associate fellow of AIAA.
Tim McLain is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Brigham Young University. He received BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from BYU and his PhD in mechanical engineering from Standford University. He joined BYU in 1995. With Randy Beard, he is the author of the textbook Small Unmanned Aircraft: Theory and Practice published in 2012 by Princeton University Press. He is currently the direct of the Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems under the NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Center program. Professor McLain is a senior member of IEEE, an associate fellow of AIAA.
Craig Merrill
Finance
Craig Merrill is a Professor of Finance at the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University and is currently serving as the Director of the MBA Program. He is also a Fellow of the Wharton Financial Institutions Research Center. Professor Merrill received his Ph.D. in Finance and Risk Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His primary area of academic research and publication is the valuation of interest-rate contingent securities with applications to derivative pricing, modeling of asset or liability risk and the valuation of insurance liabilities.
Craig Merrill is a Professor of Finance at the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University and is currently serving as the Director of the MBA Program. He is also a Fellow of the Wharton Financial Institutions Research Center. Professor Merrill received his Ph.D. in Finance and Risk Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His primary area of academic research and publication is the valuation of interest-rate contingent securities with applications to derivative pricing, modeling of asset or liability risk and the valuation of insurance liabilities.
Michael Scott
Civil Engineering
Dr. Michael Scott is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at BYU. His research focuses on computational methods for a wide variety of application areas with an emphasis on solids and fluids. Recent areas of emphasis include isogeometric analysis, incompressible turbulent flows, and structure preserving discretization techniques.
Dr. Michael Scott is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at BYU. His research focuses on computational methods for a wide variety of application areas with an emphasis on solids and fluids. Recent areas of emphasis include isogeometric analysis, incompressible turbulent flows, and structure preserving discretization techniques.
Kevin Seppi
Computer Science
These are professionals outside of Brigham Young University who aid our efforts in helping students reach their goals and potential.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and UC Davis
Illinois State University
Ken Ehlert
Managing Partner at Savvysherpa Inc.
Principal at Riley Creek Capital Management, LLC
Morehouse College
Managing Director at Goldman Sachs
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Harvey Mudd College
Co-founder and CEO of Continuum Analytics
Sandia National Laboratories
Senior Research Fellow and Director of Open Policy, Center for Growth and Opportunity, Utah State University; Director, Open Source Economics Laboratory; and President, Open Research Group, Inc.