Jared Beard Email & Phone Number

Arvada, Co, Us

Colorado, United States

Morgantown, West Virginia

Given autonomous systems are being used more frequently in complex environments, my focus has been on decision making under ambiguity. More specifically I am focused on identification of ignorance and ambiguities in problems. This involves formulating structures to represent these uncertainties, but more importantly integration of normative (value) assessments beyond simple objective functions. In particular, I aim to design reasoning over internal knowledge structures to better inform learning, and offer more descriptive information for reasoning. This knowledge about knowledge can then let agents self reflect to better achieve outcomes in lines with the values of stakeholders. While my research has primarily involved tree methods for decision making, I have experience with reinforcement learning and am actively looking to integrate my methods on more complex problems. I am proficient with ROS and leading the charge for use of ROS2 within WVU robotics. Some applications of my space mining (task planning for the NASA Space Robotics Challenge II, WVU placed 6th), robot foraging, search and exploration, and soon to be agricultural robotics.In the past I have also worked in state estimation, high degree of freedom control, and computer vision. I have also helped mentor the WVU University Robotics Challenge Team in decision making and autonomy (including seminar materials), as well as students participating in research experiences.

Greater Los Angeles Area

Morgantown, Wv

My time spent with RockSat-X has been in the preparation of the payload for flight. This has included the development of a CAD (Fusion 360, Solidworks) model for the payload and organization experiments on the payload deck. I have also worked with various experiments towards the development of their CAD files and, in one case, directly contributed to the design of the experiment and payload. In most cases, however, I advise teams on design improvements and ensure their experiments will meet requirements for flight and mitigate risk posed to the launch by the West Virginia payload. In the coming months, I will be responsibly for preparing some pre-flight tests for the physical payload and further tuning of the payload to meet mass and center of gravity requirements, as well as, integrate experiments on the flight deck.

Morgantown, Wv, Usa

Focus in advanced manufacturing techniques (namely 3D printing) and synthesis/characterization of materials for flexible electronics and sustainability applications. This primary goal being the refinement of dye-sensitized solar cell component layers to balance desired material behavior with printability. In this time, I have gained experience with sputter coating, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), spin coating, impedance testing, hall effect testing, viscometry, and image-based characterization. In addition, I am responsible for improving and maintaining software for our in-house 3D printer and calibration of various equipment.

In my time as a student worker, my primary duty was acting as webmaster for the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This included the maintenance of department website and the develop/maintenance of faculty research websites. Additional duties included assistance with preparation of materials for the department newsletters, acting as support staff during the yearly pumpkin drop, and daily operations such as filing and copying documents.

Morgantown, Wv

The university rover challenge is an international competition for colleges to develop a tele-operated and autonomous rover to assist with simulated Mars missions. Tasks include traversal of extreme terrain, use of tools, object collection, science experimentation, and autonomous traversal. My role has been to manage a team of 7 to develop rover software. To do so, I am charged with setting milestones, distributing workload, and ensuring task completion. To this end I have designed/assisted in development of software architecture and systems (including autonomy, computer vision, localization, communications, user interface, hardware interfaces) using C++ and the Robot Operating System (ROS). Additionally, I have assisted in the selection and integration/testing of electronic components and communication systems.

Heraklion, Crete, Greece

As part of a research collaboration between WVU and UoC - FORTH, I spent six weeks on the island of Crete to conduct research and learn about the culture. During my time there, I was on a team studying the gas sensing properties of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide thin films. I gained first-hand experience with sputter coating, thermal evaporation coating, X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy, gas sensing apparatus, and Origin software for data analysis. Additional experience included the analysis of atomic force microscopy data.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Aerospace, Aeronautical And Astronautical/Space Engineering

Master'S Degree, Mechanical Engineering

Thesis: Environment Search Planning Subject to High Robot Localization Uncertainty

B.S. Of Mechanical Engineering, Minor Physics

Education record

Activities and Societies: Varsity Tennis, Class Vice President (2010-2012)