Neil K. Dhingra

Director – Optimization and Machine Learning Address: Boulder, CO  View Neil Dhingra's profile

Biosketch

Neil K. Dhingra is a Director of Optimization and Machine Learning in Boulder, CO working on advanced mission planning and scheduling. He was previously a Program Manager in Fort Collins, CO and led a talented team of research scientists in the development and deployment of advanced algorithms supporting space situational awareness and missile defense.

He was born in New York City, NY and received his BSE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2010. His graduate work was performed under the supervision of Professor Mihailo R. Jovanovic at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Neil's previous research experience includes work on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) at the University of Michigan Wireless Integrated MicroSystems ERC with Professor Kensall D. Wise, on support vector machines for object classification at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory with Thomas T. Lu, Ph.D., and on aeroservoelastic aircraft at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center (formerly Dryden Flight Research Center) with Marty Brenner.

In his graduate work, Neil's research interests were centered on designing distributed controllers for complex large-scale systems. Due to their scale, complex dynamics, and constraints on communication, centralized controllers are often infeasible for large distributed systems, such as the smart grid or formations of self-driving cars. Distributed control strategies make control of such systems possible by using controllers composed of separate independent entities. Neil's work focused on identifying tractable approaches and developing computationally efficient methods for designing distributed controllers.