Author: eraubid4rlab

Awards, Lab Updates

Grace Gratton selected as 2025 Goldwater Scholar

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March 28, 2025 – We are thrilled to announce that one of our lab members, Grace Gratton, has been named a Goldwater Scholar! Grace is a sophomore studying space physics and is one of two Goldwater Scholars selected from Embry-Riddle this year. The Goldwater Scholarship is one of the most prestigious undergraduate scholarships, recognizing excellence in STEM research. It is awarded to students who intend to pursue research careers and demonstrate exceptional dedication and passion for their work.

Grace joined the BID4R Lab during her freshman year and has been diligently researching consensus algorithms used in multi-agent systems. Her research focuses on how the synchronous hatching behavior of the South American River Turtle can be applied to consensus algorithms to increase their robustness against faulty agents. She recently presented her findings at the 2025 CSER Conference in Long Beach, California.

This summer, Grace will participate in an internship at the Air Force Research Laboratory. She looks forward to developing her research skills in an industrial setting and hopes this experience will help her achieve her goal of becoming a professor.

We are incredibly proud to see Grace’s hard work and research recognized at such a prestigious level, and we can’t wait to see what she accomplishes next!

Congratulations, Grace!

Two Embry-Riddle Undergraduates Named Goldwater Scholars

Two Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University students have been awarded Goldwater scholarships, marking the first time the university has had multiple scholars in one year. Aerospace Physiology junior Natalie Brattain and Space Physics sophomore Grace Gratton were selected by the scholarship program, which aims to support college sophomores and juniors poised to become the next research leaders …

news.erau.edu

Conference, Lab Updates

BID4R Lab at CSER 2025

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March 21, 2025 – Last week, BID4R Lab had the opportunity to attend and present at the 2025 Conference on Systems Engineering Research. Three significant events included Dr. Watson’s session, “Opportunities at the Boundaries between Systems Engineering and Design Theory”; master’s student Fayruz Maysha’s presentation, “Kinship Infrastructure Design: A Biologically-Inspired Approach for Emergency Response Systems”; and undergraduate Grace

Gratton’s presentation, “Evaluation of a Biologically-Inspired Multi-Agent System Consensus Algorithm to Develop Application Insights”. The conference was held in Long Beach, CA, from March 18–21 and featured 61 insightful talks and 7 panels focused on systems engineering.

Both Fayruz’s and Grace’s presentations were well received and sparked lively discussions following their talks. Dr. Watson’s panel, organized with Dr. Alexander Murphy from Florida Polytechnic University, featured insightful contributions from Dr. Taylan Topcu – Assistant Professor at Virgina Tech, Zak Ouzzif – Chief System Architect at Anduril Industries, and Dr. Zoe Szajnfarber – Professor and Director of Strategic Initiatives at George Washington University. Overall, our lab enjoyed the memorable discussions on the exciting work being done in systems engineering and looks forward to the next CSER conference!

Lab Updates

Dr. Watson Visits Florida Polytechnic University to Give Seminar

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March 17, 2025 – Dr. Bryan Watson recently visited the Florida Polytechnic University to deliver a seminar to the Mechanical Engineering Department. He was hosted by Dr. Alexander Murphy and his colleagues, Dr. Elisabeth Kames and Dr. Apurva Patel. Below are some thoughts he shared about his visit!

I did not realize how young Florida Poly is! Walking around, I would have never guessed that they were established in 2012. Their accomplishments (including national rankings) inspired me (as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University just started our bachelor’s in Systems Engineering this year). I’m excited to see where our program is in 13 years, and my visit yesterday showed me how far we can go.

The campus shows very well due to the intentionality in design (large windows on labs, landscaping, layout). I’m thinking about how I can be more intentional in setting up the “systems” in life, both personally and professionally to intentionally support long-term goals.

Lab Updates

Dr.  Watson Visits University of Florida for Seminar at ESSIE

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March 6, 2025 – Dr. Bryan Watson recently visited the University of Florida Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering to deliver a seminar at the Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE). Hosted by Dr. Sara Behdad, the visit provided an opportunity for engaging discussions with faculty and students on bio-inspired engineering and the broader impact of research. The visit also held special significance, as Dr. Watson’s grandfather graduated from UF’s Civil Engineering program in 1958.

Dr. Watson’s talk explored complex systems and the need for increased resilience, highlighting emergence as a key property and discussing how biologically inspired design (BID) can enhance system resilience. He presented a case study on mitigating peer-to-peer network attacks using strategies inspired by the Zombie Ant Fungus (Ophiocordyceps camponoti-rufipedis), demonstrating the application of agent-based models to faulted agents in complex systems. The talk concluded with a discussion of future directions for Biologically Inspired Design for Resilience (BID4R), including insights from the Allee Effect and its implications for system stability. The work presented included contributions from students James Hand, Rasika Ravindra Kale, Isabella V Hernandez, EIT, Mia Jastrzembski, Fayruz Maysha, Jessica Christa Wira Hadipoernomo, Julia Gorthey, and Austen Pallen.

Follow this link to watch his seminar!

Awards, Lab Updates

Lab members win top poster with a faculty at Cyber Rodeo

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February 5, 2025 – Two of our lab members, Jonah Kohlmeyer and James Hand, along with our faculty mentor Dr. Bryan Watson, won top poster with a faculty mentor at Cyber Rodeo! Cyber Rodeo is Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Aviation Cyber Initiative hosted by the Center for Aerospace Resilient Systems. It’s a two-day event focused on enhancing cyber resilience and mitigating cyber threats to aviation. It features technical demonstrations, company recruiting, Capture-The-Flag challenges, and an engaging poster session.

We are honored to have one of our lab’s posters selected as the top poster with a faculty mentor! When asked what the poster highlighted, Jonah Kohlmeyer, who helped create the poster with James Hand and faculty mentor Dr. Bryan Watson, replied:

BID4R’s contribution to this year’s cyber rodeo was an overview of STARS, or the Swarm Test Arena for Resilient Systems. Specifically, it presented a poster on “A Comparison of Biologically Inspired Faulted Agent Resilience Strategy Performance in Computer Simulated Environments Vs. Physical Swarm Test Platform Data.” The poster outlined the current work the BID4R lab is doing with the STARS platform and demonstrated one of our swarm units. – Jonah Kohlmeyer

Congratulations to Jonah, James, and Dr. Watson on a fantastic poster!

Awards, Lab Updates

Dr. Watson’s Paper Recognized as INCOSE Editors Choice!

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We are thrilled to announce that our faculty mentor, Dr. Bryan Watson, along with co-authors Isabella Hernandez, Marc Weissburg, and Bert Bras, had their paper selected as an Editor’s Choice by the INCOSE Systems Engineering Journal!

Their paper employed biologically inspired design to outline key steps for enhancing system resilience. By performing functional decomposition of eusocial insect colonies, they developed innovative approaches to strengthen the emergent resilience of multi-agent systems. Their work resulted in two major contributions: the recognition of six generalized functions which can be applied to systems to increase resilience, and a methodology to identify and translate insect behavior into generalized guidelines for designing resilient systems. They supported their work with a case study, by applying their identified functions to an emergency power service system and suggesting methods to improve its resilience. Their paper contributed several insights to the field of systems engineering, and we are proud to have it recognized by INCOSE!

Congratulations Dr. Watson!

For more information or to read the paper: https://lnkd.in/ePQTw5ve

Lab Updates, Networking Event

BID4R Lab End-of-Semester Celebration

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December 7, 2024 – As the 2024 fall semester drew to a close, our lab joined together to celebrate the numerous accomplishments we have achieved this semester. These accomplishments were made possible by the collaboration, determination, and persistence of our lab members. This semester, we submitted 4 abstracts and 6 conference papers! We are very proud of all the work our dedicated members have produced and look forward to our future growth, learning, and accomplishments!

Lab Updates, Poster Presentation

BID4R Lab at the 2024 Student Research Symposium

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November 20, 2024  – This past fall, BID4R Lab members showcased their work at the ERAU Student Research Symposium! Our researchers contributed to 9 presentations, sharing topics from optimization approaches for agents with limited knowledge to biologically inspired approaches to emergency response systems! Our posters were well received, and we were excited to participate in interesting discussions of our work! Congratulations to our researchers, for their outstanding presentations and sharing their valuable insights!

Conference, Lab Updates

BID4R Lab at IDETC-CIE 2024

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August 28, 2024 – Last month, the BID4R Lab had the opportunity to attend and present at the 2024 ASME International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC-CIE) in Washington, DC. The conference, held from August 25–28, 2024, featured networking events, workshops, the CIE Student Hackathon

competition, and over 500 technical presentations across 11 tracks.

Rogelio and Jessica participated in the ASME 2024 Student Hackathon – Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Enhance Mechanical Engineering, which was held virtually from August 16-24 and in-person on August 25. They worked on 2 problem sets provided by NIST and UES AFRL. Although they did not win the competition, both enjoyed working on the project and learned various methods of image processing.

Jessica presented her work on a new optimization approach with limited agent knowledge inspired by sandpiper food searching behavior in comparison with other well-known algorithm called the Firefly Algorithm. Besides that, Rogelio also presented his work on his simulation study exploring the transition from private to public transportation. He got multiple questions and had a nice discussion which was eventually stopped due to time constraints.

Moreover, Dr. Bryan Watson and Dr. Alexander Murphy from Florida Polytechnic University co-host the DTM Special Session 3, “Opportunities at the Boundaries between Systems Engineering and Design Theory,” featuring insightful contributions from Dr. Astrid Layton – Assistant Professor at Texas A&M, Diarny Fernandes – Mechanical/Aerospace Engineer at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, and Matthew Mueller – Manager of Education Innovation at PTC.

Papers or posters presented in the IDETC-CIE 2024 are the following:

  • Sandpiper Food Search Algorithm: A New Optimization Algorithm with Limited Knowledge – Jessica Christa Wira Hadipoernomo, Dr. Bryan Watson
  • Barriers to Sustainable System Evolution: A Simulation Study Exploring the Transition From Private to Public Transportation – Rogelio Gracia Otalvaro, Dr. Bryan Watson
Conference, Lab Updates

BID4R Lab Presentations at INCOSE IS 2024

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July 6, 2024 – Last July, BID4R Lab had the opportunity to attend and present at INCOSE International Symposium (IS) 2024 in Dublin and our lab members had an incredible experience! The conference focused on Systems Engineering consisted of numerous presentations and

activities for 6 days and had more than 1000 attendees from all over the world.

Rogelio presented his work in the use of bifurcation analysis for complex system resilience (poster). He had the opportunity to engage with a multitude of visitors, going from renowned academics to industry experts. The feedback and comments on the matter that were given are very insightful and has helped him shape his future papers and efforts. Another highlight of the event for our lab was the presentation of Benjamin and Olivier in the scalability of design-for-resilience heuristics, which was clearly done and well received.

Rogelio commented “INCOSE IS 2024 was my first ever experience at a conference and the mix of the people, the discussions, and the city of Dublin itself was very enjoyable, inspiring me to keep advancing in the field and to look forward to the next one. Next stop, IS in Ottawa in 2025!”

Papers or posters presented in the INCOSE IS 2024 are the following:

  • Evaluating the Scalability and Combinatorial Effectiveness of Design-for-Resilience Heuristics – Benjamin Wierzbanowski, Oli Rogoll, Dr. Bryan Watson
  • A Framework to use Bifurcation Analysis for Insight into Complex Systems Resilience – Rogelio Gracia Otalvaro, Dr. Bryan Watson