Primary Investigator
Bryan Watson, Ph.D., P.E.
Assistant Professor of Systems Engineering
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
watsonb3 at erau.edu
Bryan Watson, PE earned his Ph.D. at the Georgia Institute of Technology and his B.S. in Systems Engineering at the United States Naval Academy in 2009. After graduating, Bryan joined the nuclear Navy, serving as a submarine officer onboard the U.S.S Louisville and at the Naval Prototype Training Unit from 2009-2017. Significant milestones include earning the Master Training Specialist Certification (the military’s highest instructor accreditation), Nuclear Professional Engineer Certification, two Naval Achievement Medals, the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and a Naval Commendation Medal for his work troubleshooting and repairing the Moored Training Ship 635’s reactor and electrical distribution faults. Following his transition from active duty, Bryan earned his PhD as a member of both the Computation and Advancement of Sustainable Systems Lab, where he developed a new method for distributed system demand estimation, and at the Sustainable Design and Manufacturing lab, where his work focused on increasing System of System resilience. Bryan’s work has been published in the Journal of Industrial Ecology, Journal of Mechanical Design, and IEEE’s Systems Journal.
At Embry-Riddle, Bryan’s current work is focused on investigating the use of biologically inspired design to increase the resilience of modern system. The goal of their work is more reliable services to users, increased user safety, and increased sustainability for connected manufacturing, energy, and infrastructure systems.
Faculty Collaborator
Julianna Gesun, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
gesunj at erau.edu
Current Role: Assistant Professor of Engineering at ERAU (Engineering Fundamentals)
Research: Research broadly focuses on understanding and supporting the process by which engineering programs facilitate the environments for students to develop optimal functioning in undergraduate engineering programs. Her research interests intersect the fields of positive psychology, engineering education, and human development to understand the intrapersonal, cognitive, social, behavioral, contextual, cultural, and outcome factors that influence thriving in engineering.
Graduate Lab Members
Fayruz Maysha
Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
mayshaf at my.erau.edu
Fayruz is a Ph.D. student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, specializing in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. With a strong background in microbiology and biotechnology from BRAC University, Bangladesh, she is currently focusing on, “Bioinspired Algorithm for Infrastructure Design: Leveraging Kinship Coefficients in Eusocial Animals for Resilient System”. Her research seeks to enhance system resilience by applying the social structures and kinship dynamics of eusocial animals to infrastructure design. This innovative approach aims to create more adaptive and robust systems, reflecting Fayruz’s commitment to blending biological insights with engineering solutions to address complex challenges. A passionate advocate for women in STEM and an experienced public speaker, Fayruz’s aim is to harness her skills in biologically inspired design, data analysis, and the development of research tools to forge innovations that substantially advance human welfare.
André Luiz Elias Melo
Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering Air Traffic Systems Engineer at DECEA
Aeronautics Institute of Technology/Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
meloalem at fab.mil.br
André is a Ph.D. candidate in Electronic and Computer Engineering at the Aeronautics Institute of Technology (ITA) and currently a visiting researcher at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), USA. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from ITA and a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC-MG). He works at the Brazilian Airspace Control Institute (ICEA/DECEA) as a systems engineer, leading the technical integration of uncrewed aircraft into Brazilian airspace. He also represents DECEA on the Advisory Council of the InterUSS Platform (Linux Foundation), contributing to global standards for UTM interoperability. His research interests include Urban Air Mobility (UAM), cybersecurity in UTM systems, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), and AI for airspace management. He collaborates with international stakeholders such as Eurocontrol and ICAO, and has led projects in air traffic performance analytics, operational risk modeling, and digital infrastructure for drone operations.
Spoorti Nanjamma
Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
M.S. in Systems Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
nanjamms at my.erau.edu
Current work: Biologically Inspired Design for Satellite Designs & Project COMET – requirements and test case architecture models.
Christine Sessions
Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
M.S. in Systems Engineering
B.S. in Spaceflight Operations
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
portanoc at my.erau.edu
Current work: Lead Systems Engineer for Project COMET (CubeSat Optical and mm-Wave Enabled Telecommunications)
Fadjimata Anaroua
Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
M.S. in Systems Engineering, B.S. in Aeronautics, and B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
issoufof at my.erau.edu
Fadjimata Issoufou is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), where she also earned a Master of Science in Systems Engineering. She holds dual bachelor’s degrees in Aeronautics and in Industrial and Systems Engineering. Her academic and professional work spans aviation, systems engineering, artificial intelligence, and unmanned aircraft systems, with experience in both research and applied operational environments. At ERAU, she has served in teaching, research, and instructional design roles across electrical and computer engineering, systems engineering, mathematics, and data science. Her research includes FAA-funded work on Urban Air Mobility (UAM) integration into the National Airspace System (NAS) and UAS standards tracking, mapping, and analysis, as well as AI-Augmented Distributed Learning technologies and Adaptive Educational Systems. Before returning to academia, she worked as an Air Traffic Controller with the Agency for Air Navigation Security (ASECNA), where she managed aircraft movements and airport operations in a live air navigation environment. Her broader interests include UAS integration and airspace management, AI and machine learning for aviation and aerospace applications, safety and resilience of cyber-physical systems, digital twin architectures, and data-driven decision frameworks for complex engineered systems.
Jonah Kohlmeyer
M.S. Candidate in Systems Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Kohlmeyj at my.erau.edu
Current work: Design and assembly of new hardware for the Swarm Test Arena for Resilience Systems (STARS), and modeling for spacecraft systems as part of CubeSat Optical and mm-Wave Enabled Telecommunications (COMET) project.
Tim Mascal
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering/M.S. Candidate in Systems Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
MASCALT at my.erau.edu
Current work: Researching behavior for the Swarm Test Arena for Resilience Systems (STARS) program.
Mikayla Dutkiewicz
B.S. in Human Factors Psychology/ M.S. Candidate in Human Factors Psychology
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
dutkiewm at my.erau.edu
Current work: Investigating human behavior in design and the implementation of biologically inspired approaches to advance engineering education and design solution outcomes.
Undergraduate Lab Members
Abigail Butcher
B.S. Candidate in Aerospace Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: butchea1 @my.erau.edu
Current work: Project COMET; Bifurcation Analysis of Supply Chains
Ava Neubert
B.S. Candidate in Aerospace Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: neuberta @my.erau.edu
Current work: Underwater Submarine Swarm
Grace Gratton
B.S. Candidate in Space Physcis
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: grattong @my.erau.edu
Current work: Developing consensus algorithms for Multi-Agent Systems
Graci Flaherty
B.S. Candidate in Data Science
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: flaherg1 @my.erau.edu
Current work: Developing autonomous charging prioritization for robotic swarms.
Jaden Caradine
B.S. Candidate in Aerospace Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: caradinj @my.erau.edu
Current work: Developing faulted agent detection models for Multi-Agent Systems
Joanna Morris
B.S. Candidate in Homeland Security and Intelligence
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: morrisj7 @my.erau.edu
Current work: Snapping Shrimp Algorithm applied to National Defense
Morgan Kendall
B.S. Candidate in Aerospace Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: kendalm2 @my.erau.edu
Current work: Multi Agent Systems Census Algorithms
Nathan George
B.S. Candidate in Aerospace Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: georn10 @my.erau.edu
Current work: Upgrading electrical systems on the robot swarm
Nick Wilson
B.S. Candidate in Systems Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Contact email: wilsn11 @my.erau.edu
Current work: : Diagnose and repair of damaged robotic hardware for the Swarm Test Arena for Resilience Systems (STARS)
Noah Pointer
B.S. Candidate in Software Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
pointern at my.erau.edu
Current work: Assisting Dr. Gesun with Engineering Thriving by researching how to utilize machine learning to interpret biometric data
Sydney Cash
B.S. Candidate in Computational Mathematics
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
cashs2 at my.erau.edu
Current work: Engineering Education
Niah Lutz
B.S. Candidate in Engineering Physics/ B.S. Candidate in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
lutzn at my.erau.edu
Current work: Bedbug inspired algorithms
Jacbob Hall
B.S. Candidate in Software Engineering
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
hallj55 at my.erau.edu
Current work: Software infrastructure for STARS autonomous robot testing arena
BID4R Lab 