Alexander Brown

Given my research interests, I love teaching courses in dynamic systems and controls, and sharing my love for the discipline with the next generation of engineers. As an instructor, there is no greater reward than helping someone achieve their goals, or seeing a student have a critical ‘lightbulb moment.’

My professional interests are in robotics, vehicle dynamics, and in interactions between robots, vehicles, humans, and animals. Generally speaking, my work is about describing interesting dynamic (time-varying) physical phenomena using mathematical models. In my work, I’ve built mathematical models of cars, motorcycles, robots, and even human and animal movement.

Whenever possible, I like to test these models using experimental data to evaluate how well they can predict the behavior they’re supposed to represent. When I get really lucky, I use my models to design control and perception systems for robots. Good perception systems help robots make sense of the world around them, and good control systems help robots make better decisions

about how to interact with their surroundings. This is especially true of robots like intelligent vehicles that have to coexist with animals, both human and non-human!

I chose Lafayette because I love to teach, especially in the Integrative Engineering program and in Mechanical Engineering’s Systems and Controls threads. Lafayette also gives me the opportunity to be creative and interdisciplinary in my research, and to involve students at every level from ideation to publication.

Outside of the lab and the classroom, I love to build, restore, and ride motorcycles, to go surfing at the crack of dawn in Monmouth County, N.J, and to play music with my band, Imposters In Rome.