Faculty & Staff
Gordon Parker
John and Cathi Drake Endowed Chair, Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Prof. Parker specializes in dynamic system modeling and control. His application areas include land, air, space, and sea with recent funding from ONR, NAVSEA, DARPA, AFOSR and ARL. Recent projects focus on model predictive control for thermal/electrical energy management, machine learning control of wave energy converters and unpiloted underwater vehicles and survivability-optimal control of surface vessels. Prior to his position at Michigan Tech he worked for four years at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque on a variety of vibration control applications and three years at General Dynamics Space Systems on guidance and control of launch vehicles.
Wayne Weaver
Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), Chair and Graduate Program Director, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)
Wayne W. Weaver received a BS in Electrical Engineering and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from GMI Engineering & Management Institute in 1997, and an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His research interests include power electronics, electric machine drives, electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, and non-linear and optimal control.
Shangyan Zou
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Dr. Zou is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at Michigan Technological University. Dr. Zou has research interests in dynamics and control with applications to ocean renewables, multi-agent systems (autonomy), machine learning, optimization, and state estimation. Dr. Zou has a strong interest in making renewable energy more economically viable in the future energy market.
Tania Demonte Gonzalez
Assistant Teaching Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE)
Tania is developing control strategies to address the nonlinear Froude-Krylov forces arising from large-motion, non-cylindrical point absorber buoys. Her nonlinear model predictive control strategy assumes that wave force information is available in advance and is supported by the machine learning models Morgan is developing. She is working with Houssein to develop optimal control strategies for nonlinear WECs and validating WEC models using the Low-Friction Testbed. Tania was awarded Michigan Tech’s Topping Teaching Fellowship in the Fall of 2022 and is a remote intern at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado.
Students
Our student's creativity and passion create knowledge and drive our research. Undergraduates use MTU Wave and work with faculty and graduate students to test wave energy converter designs for capstone projects and yearly Marine Energy Converter Competition entries. Students pursuing M.S. and Ph.D. degrees develop both core and project-specific skills. Core skills include modeling and simulation, wave tank experimental techniques, control system design, and real-time implementation. Project-specific skills include machine learning, optimal control, and nonlinear control.
Houssein Yassin (PhD Candidate)
Nonlinear and Optimal Controls, WEC Modeling, Data-Driven Methods
Houssein’s work advances optimal control for wave energy converters by integrating model-based and data-driven approaches. He focuses on nonlinear control design, robust constraint handling for PTO systems, and control-oriented system identification built from experimental data. His portfolio includes power-maximizing strategies, predictive and learning-based controllers, wave-forecast-in-the-loop operation, and rigorous closed-loop validation. These methods coupled with hydrodynamic modeling are tested and validated with experimental benchmarking to deliver reliable, scalable control solutions for next-generation WECs.
James Halverson (MS Student)
Hydrodynamic Modeling
James is a first-year graduate student pursuing a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering at his alma mater. He earned his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech in December 2024. His research focuses on the hydrodynamic modeling and control of hourglass-shaped point absorber buoys. This work involves iterative experimental modeling, control development, and validation of non-linear buoy geometries to explore the potential of atypical absorber shapes.
Luke Funk (UnderGraduate)
Testing Softwares
Luke is working towards his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with Aerospace and Electrical Engineering concentrations. He is focused on gaining an in-depth understanding of how to use our test software works to find any tools that the team can utilize to further improve testing. Additionally, he is working on multiple projects involving methods for 3D printing various shapes of buoys, constructing a more efficient test setup, and assisting with testing. Luke is involved with Michigan Tech's Aerospace Enterprise and is interested in Controls Engineering in the Aerospace industry.
ALUMNI
Vasu Bhardwaj
Salman (Sal) Husain
Morgan Kline
Kevin Nelson
Lucas Schloemp
Mady Vanwieren
Ryley Mullin
Calibration of Wave Gauges.
Students using the wave tank to work with a UAV.
Students working on the bridge and in the wave tank to run tests.
Michigan Tech student in the wave tank installing Wave Gauges.
Dr. Parker works with student researchers to review data.