Violet Mwaffo

Contact ECME 134 Phone: +1 303-735-7959 Information Department of Mechanical Engineering Fax: 303-492-3498 CU Boulder College of Engineering and Applied Science E-mail: violet.mwaff[email protected] 427 UCB, 1111 Engineering Dr, Boulder, CO 80309

Present Research Associate, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder Appointment College of Engineering and Applied Science, Since July 2017

Education New York University School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USA Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, May 2017 • Dissertation: “Data-driven modeling and analysis of zebrafish individual and social be- havior” • Advisor: Maurizio Porfiri

New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USA M.Sc., Financial Engineering, May 2012 • Research project: “Pricing stochastic volatility models using finite element analysis” • Advisor: Andre Itkin

University of Versailles Saint-Quentin en Yvelines jointly with Ecole Nationale Sup´erieurede Statistiques et d’Economie Appliqu´ee, Versailles, France and Abidjan, Cˆoted’Ivoire M.Sc. (dual degree France-Ivory Coast), Statistical Analysis, September 2003 • Research project: “The determinants of employment and access to labor market” • Advisors: Jean Arnaud Kouakou and Carlos Garcia

The University of Yaound´eI, Yaound´e,Cameroon M.Sc., Mathematics, September 2001 • Research project: “On elliptic partial differential equations” • Advisor: Gabriel Nguetseng

The University of Yaound´eI, Yaound´e,Cameroon B.Sc., Mathematics, September 1999

Research Data-driven Modeling of Complex Live and Engineered Systems, Analysis and Control of Net- Interests worked Dynamical Systems, Autonomous Collective Systems and Robotics

Teaching Applied Mathematics, Control Systems, Dynamics, Mechatronics, Network Theory, Robotics, Interests Vibrations

Relevant Dynamical systems and control: Linear Control Theory and Design, Mechatronics, Mechanical Coursework Vibrations, Micro-electromechanical Systems, Non-Linear Systems, System Theory and Feed- back Control, Linear-Quadratic Regulator, Model Predictive Control, Kalman Filters, Combi- natorics and Graph Theory, Transport Phenomena Data-science: Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Deep-learning in- cluding Neural Networks, Reinforcement Learning, Support Vector Machine, Advanced Statis- tics and Econometrics, Advanced Numerical Analysis, Advanced Optimization methods Mathematical finance: Computational and Algorithmic Finance, Financial Risk Management, Numerical and Simulations Techniques in Finance, Quantitative Methods in Finance, Stochastic Calculus and Financial Modeling

1 Research Research Associate, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Experience CO, USA

• Developing a control based algorithm using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence to coordinate the motion of multiple robots • Developing a prototype of self-balancing robot for STEM education controlled using clas- sical control schemes and modern control tools such as Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence • Developing a prototype of modular and self-reconfigurable robot using computer vision for object detection, identification, and position estimation • Conducted experimental works on decentralized formation control with noisy and intermit- tent data using vision and ultrasonic sensors • Proposed an experimentally-validated, impulsive control strategy to synchronize or desyn- chronize a group of robots • Demonstrate through mathematical modeling the effectiveness of escape response behavior observed in animal group to increase group cohesion and application to divert and contain a group of robots from their reference trajectory • Developed a novel method for detecting intermittent switching leadership in networks of coupled dynamical systems

Research Assistant, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New York Univer- sity Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, NY, USA August 2012 – May 2017 • Developed an educational app simulating zebrafish behavior for use as an experimental tool for learning theory • Developed experimentally-validated, data-driven stochastic models for zebrafish swimming • Established criteria for stochastic pinning control of networks of chaotic maps based on stochastic stability theory and consensus protocols • Investigated the effects of psychoactive compound on zebrafish behavior • Established network-based tools to investigate collective behavior in biological groups • Analyzed leader-follower relationships in biological groups using information-theoretic meth- ods • Conducted experimental and theoretical research on fish-robot interactions • Conducted experimental and theoretical analysis on the fluid dynamics induced by fish swimming

Research Analyst and International Consultant, National Institute of Statistics and Interna- tional Labor Organization, Yaound´e,Cameroon October 2003 - June 2010 • Analyzed the determinants of employment and access to labor market • Studied lead indicators of economy: employment, industry, commodity, and forex • Authored several working papers for statistical building capacity for sub-saharian African national/local Governments and NGOs

Teaching CU Boulder, Department of Mechanical Engineering August – December 2018 Experience • Lecturer for Algorithms of Collective Motion (MCEN 6848, independent study) • Guest lecturer for Linear Control Systems (ASEN 5014) taught by Dr. Sean Humbert: provided 4 lectures on the topics of Linear Quadratic Regulator and Kalman Filter • Lecturer for Network Reconstruction in Complex Systems (MCEN 6228, independent study)

Outreach activities, Mitsui USA Foundation August 2015 – May 2017 • Promoted biologically-inspired learning in K-12 schools in Brooklyn, NY • Developed and implemented several mini-lectures including hands-on activities to teach engineering by doing

Outreach activities, Applying Mechatronics to Promote Science (AMPS), Department of Me- chanical and Aerospace Engineering, New York University Tandon School of Engineering,

2 Brooklyn, NY, USA August 2012 – May 2015 • Promoted engineering and STEM activities in K-12 schools in Brooklyn, NY • Authored several published Teach-Engineering activities including lectures and the fabrica- tion of low cost hands-on activity instruments on topic related to noise and light pollution, Foucault pendulum, mechanical advantages using gears, and ultrasound imaging

Teaching assistant, Department of Financial Engineering, New York University Tandon School of Engineering September 2010 – December 2011 • Quantitative Methods in Finance: assisted Instructor by performing teaching-related duties such as grading homework, proctoring exams, and providing recitations (review of lectures, tutoring, problem solving) • Bloomberg System Certification: mentored students to use the Bloomberg System and to pass the Certification

Mentoring Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA Experience Graduate’s student 1. Sagar Eligar, Since Fall 2019 (Software preparation for vision and voice controlled robot) 2. Sourabh Chikode, February 2018 to May 2019 (Self-reconfigurable modular robots) 3. Vishwa Sheth, February 2018 – May 2018 (Mechatronics-enabled engineering education) 4. Anurag Vaidyanathan, Fall 2018 (Computer vision) 5. Joseph Daniel Schaeffer, since February 2017 (Robotic platform for swarm robotic ex- periments) 6. Zheng Chen, February – May 2017 (Vision based navigation) 7. Mohd Aaquib Tabrez, from October 2017 to December 2017 (Robotic platform for swarm robotic experiments) Undergraduate students 1. Aldwin Bretoux, Since Fall 2019 (Mechatronics-enabled engineering education) 2. Gary Luoma, Since Fall 2019 (Hardware and software preparation for self-reconfigurable modular robots) 3. James Douthit, Since Fall 2019 (Mechatronics-enabled engineering education) 4. Jackson Curry, Since summer 2019 (Hardware and software preparation for experiments on decentralized formation control) 5. Zheshen Wu, May 2018 – May 2019 (Mechatronics-enabled engineering education) 6. Branden Adams, September 2017 – May 2019 (360 ◦ bird eye vision sensor) 7. Eoin Doherty, September 2017 – May 2019 (Software preparation for swarm robotics and mechatronics-enabled engineering education) 8. Samuel Coyle, summer 2018 (Hardware and software preparation for experiments on decentralized formation control) 9. Kevin Lee, summer 2018 (Hardware preparation for swarm robotics) 10. Dak Dice, from October 2017 to December 2017 (Hardware preparation for swarm robotics) 11. Christopher Ian Roy Worsdale, from October 2017 to December 2017 (Software prepa- ration for swarm robotics)

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, New York University, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Graduate’s student

3 • Rana El Khoury (Graduate student), from January 2017 to May 2017 (modeling zebrafish swimming behavior) • Changsu Kim, from September 2015 to May 2017 (experimental analysis of robotic fish swimming) Undergraduate students • Veronika Korneyeva, from June 2016 to May 2017 (App for tablets and smartphones to simulate zebrafish behavior) • Sebastian Romero Cruz, from June to December 2016 (Experimental analysis of live and robotic fish swimming) • Rua Hamid, from October 2015 to May 2016 (Mechatronics-enabled engineering educa- tion) • Sukhgewanpreet Singh, from June 2015 to April 2016 (Robotics platforms for fish-robot interactions) • Howard Chien, from June to August 2015 (design of a swim tunnel)

Honors and • University of Colorado Boulder Chancellor post-doctoral Fellow, July 2017 Awards • Mitsui USA Foundation (New York University Tandon School of Engineering), June 2015 – May 2017 • Applying Mechatronics To Promote Science (AMPS), National Science Foundation (New York University Tandon School of Engineering), August 2012 – May 2015

Journal 1. Mwaffo, V. and Vernerey, F., 2019: “Leveraging escape response observed in animal group Publications to induce group cohesion and applications to multi-robot systems”, In preparation 2. Mwaffo, V. and De Lellis, P., Humbert, S., 2019: “Impulsive control of stochastic multi- vehicle systems ”, In preparation 3. Mwaffo, V., Curry, J. S., Iudice, F. L., De Lellis, P., 2019: “Experiments on decentralized formation control with noisy and limited sensor measurements”, In preparation 4. Mwaffo, V., De Lellis, P., Humbert, S., 2019: “Formation control of stochastic multi- vehicle systems ”, IEEE Transaction on Robotics, In review 5. Mwaffo, V., Keshavan, J., Hedrick, T., Humbert, S., 2018: “Detecting intermittent switching leadership in networks of coupled dynamical systems”, Scientific Reports, 8 6. Daniele N., Tommaso R., Mwaffo, V., Tiziana B., Porfiri, M., 2018: “Social environment modulates anxiogenic effects of caffeine in zebrafish”, Behavioural Pharmacology, In press. 7. Mwaffo, V., Zhang, P., Cruz, S. R., Porfiri, M., 2017: “Zebrafish swimming in the flow: a particle image velocimetry study”, PeerJ, 5, e4041. 8. Mwaffo, V., Butail, S., Porfiri, M., 2017: “Analysis of pairwise interactions in a maximum likelihood sense to identify leaders in a group”, Frontiers in Robotics and AI 5, 35 (Special issue: Novel Technological and Methodological Tools for the Understanding of Collective Behaviors). 9. Mwaffo, V., Korneyeva, V., Porfiri, M., 2017: “simUfish: An interactive application to teach K-12 students about zebrafish behavior”, Zebrafish, 14(5), 477–488 10. Macr`ı,S., Neri, D., Ruberto, T., Mwaffo, V., Butail, S., and Porfiri, M., 2017: “Three- dimensional behavioral scoring of zebrafish phenotype unveils biological phenomena hid- den by two-dimensional analyses ”, Scientific Reports 7, 1962. 11. Phamduy, P., Vazquez, M., Kim, C., Mwaffo, V., Rizzo, A., and Porfiri, M., 2017: “Design and characterization of a miniature free-swimming robotic fish for animal-robot interac- tions ”, International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications, 1-15 12. Mwaffo, V., Butail, S., and Porfiri, M., 2016: “In-silico experiments of zebrafish behavior: modeling swimming in three dimensions”, Scientific Reports, 7, 39877. 13. Tommaso, R., Mwaffo, V., Singh, S., Neri, D., and Porfiri, M., 2016: “Zebrafish response to a robotic replica in three dimensions ”, Royal Society Open Science, 3 (10), 160505.

4 14. Bartolini, T., Mwaffo, V., Showler, A., Macr`ı,S., Butail, S., Porfiri, M., 2016: “Zebrafish response to 3D printed shoals of conspecifics: the effect of body size”, Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 11(2), 026003 15. Mwaffo, V., Anderson, R. P., Porfiri, M., 2015: “Collective dynamics in the Vicsek and vectorial network models beyond uniform additive noise”, Journal of Nonlinear Science, 25(5) 1-24 16. Butail, S., Mwaffo, V., and Porfiri, M., 2015: “A model-free information-theoretic ap- proach to infer leadership in pairs of zebrafish”, Physical Review E, 93(4), 042411 17. Mwaffo, V., and Porfiri, M., 2015: “Turning rate dynamics of zebrafish exposed to ethanol”, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos 25(07), 1540006 18. Bartolini, T., Mwaffo, V., Butail, S., Porfiri, M., 2015: ”Effect of acute ethanol adminis- tration on zebrafish tail beat motion”, Alcohol 49(7), 721-725 19. Mwaffo, V., and Porfiri, M., 2015: “Linear analysis of the vectorial network model in the presence of leaders”, Automatica 58, 160-166 20. Mwaffo, V., Butail, S., di Bernardo, M., and Porfiri, M., 2015: “Measuring Zebrafish Turning Rate”, Zebrafish 12(3), 250-254 21. Mwaffo, V., Anderson, R. P., Butail, S., and Porfiri, M., 2015: “A jump persistent turning walker to model zebrafish locomotion”, Journal of the Royal Society Interface 12(102), 20140884 22. Ladu, F., Mwaffo, V., Li, J., Macr`ı,S., and Porfiri, M., 2015: “Acute caffeine adminis- tration affects zebrafish response to a robotic stimulus”, Behavioral Brain Research, 289, 48-54 23. Mwaffo, V., De Lellis, P., Porfiri, M., 2014: “Criteria for stochastic pinning control of networks of chaotic maps”, Chaos 24(1), 013101C2

Conference 1. Mwaffo, V., DeLellis, P. and Humbert, S., “Formation control of stochastic non-holonomic Papers / vehicles”, 14th SICC International Tutorial Workshop on Network and Complexity, June Presentations 29-30 2019, Ischia (Napoli), Italy 2. Mwaffo, V., Ross, A., Butail, S., Porfiri, M., “Modeling zebrafish individual and social behavior”, Non-Equilibrium Network & Active Matter Workshop, CU Boulder, August 13-14, 2019, Boulder, CO, USA 3. Mwaffo, V., Ross, A., Butail, S., Porfiri, M., “A Data-driven modeling of zebrafish in- dividual and collective behavior”, Complex/Dynamical Systems Seminar, CU Boulder, March 21 2019, Boulder, CO, USA 4. Mwaffo, V., Keshavan, J., Hedrick, T. and Humbert, S., 2018, “A Data-Driven Method to Dissect the Dynamics of the Causal Influence in Complex Dynamical Systems, In 2018 IEEE Workshop on Complexity in Engineering (COMPENG), (pp. 1-5). IEEE, October 10–12, 2018, Florence, Italy 5. Mwaffo, V., Butail, S., Porfiri, M., 2017: “Determining cause-and-effect relationships from raw trajectory data of collective behavior”, 11th European Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ECMTB 2018), July 23-27, 2018, Lisbon, Portugal 6. Mwaffo, V., Keshavan, J., Hedrick, T., Humbert, S., 2018: “Identifying change of causal influence in coupled dynamical systems”, U.S. Air Force Science and Technology 2030 at the University of Utah (USAF S&T Workshop), July 10-11, 2018, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA 7. Adams, B., Doherty, E., Mwaffo, V., 2017: “Shoaling control mechanism for autonomous vehicles”, YOU´RE@CU Research Symposium, December 4th, 2017, Boulder, CO, USA 8. Mwaffo, V., Butail, S., Porfiri, M., 2017: “Spotting leaders in groups of self-propelled particles”, SIAM Conference on Applications of Dynamical Systems (DS17), May 21-25, 2017, Snowbird, Utah, USA

5 9. Zhang, P., Mwaffo, V., Cruz, S. R., and Porfiri, M.: “Zebrafish swimming in a water channel ”, 6th Northeast Complex Fluids and Soft Matter Workshop, January 13, 2017, Hoboken, NJ, USA 10. Mwaffo, V., Khouri, R., Butail, S., and Porfiri, M.: “Inferring leadership in pairs of zebrafish ”, IEEE International Workshop on Complex Systems and Networks, IEEE IWCSN, November 14–15, 2016, Atlanta, GA, USA 11. Mwaffo V., Butail, S., Porfiri, M.: “A three dimensional model of zebrafish swimming ”, ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference (DSCC), October 12–14, 2016, Min- neapolis, MI, USA 12. Mwaffo V., Butail, S., Porfiri, M.: “Modeling zebrafish in three dimensions ”, 14th Ex- perimental Chaos and Complexity Conference, May 16–19, 2016, Banff, Canada 13. Mwaffo V., Ruberto T., and Porfiri M.: “Active matter of shoaling zebrafish: self- propelled systems with time-dependent noise ”, 5th Northeast Complex Fluids and Soft Matter Workshop, January 15, 2016, Brooklyn, NY, USA 14. Mwaffo V. and Porfiri M.: “Group coordination in a biologically-inspired vectorial net- work model ”, Proceedings of the 9th EAI International Conference on Bio-inspired In- formation and Communications Technologies, December 04–05, 2015, New York, NY, USA 15. Hume J., Muldoon J., Mwaffo V.: “Enhancing K-12 STEM Education through LEGO- based Robotics Resources, 2013 Annual ASEE K-12 Workshop on Engineering Education, June 22, 2013, Atlanta, GA, USA

Affiliations American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME): 2014-present Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE): 2012-present New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS): 2014-present Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM): 2014-present

Grant proposal Awarded 1. Autonomous Systems Interdisciplinary Research Theme (ASIRT), Coordinating the mo- tion of a Swarm of Robots Using AI,($10,000, PI) : Conducting preliminary works and wrote the proposal. 2. XSEDE Startup, AI based Control of Swarms (PSC GPU-AI (Bridges GPU Artificial Intelligence): 1,500.0 GPU Hours PSC Storage (Bridges Pylon): 1,500.0 GB awarded for an estimated value of $1,813.50), PI: Wrote the proposal. 3. Autonomous Systems Interdisciplinary Research Theme (ASIRT), A self-reconfigurable and modular robotic framework,($1000, PI): Conducted preliminary works and wrote the proposal. 4. National Science Foundation - Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineer- ing (CDS&E): Modeling the Zebrafish Model Organism Toward Reducing, Refining, and Replacing Animal Experiments (CMMI 1505832, $335k, September 2015 - August 2018, PI: Maurizio Porfiri, New York University) • Contributed to obtain preliminary results and helped prepare the proposed work, including the extension of our existing two dimensional model to allow for in-silico experiments in three dimensions and the investigation of the effects of psychoactive compounds on animal behavior.

Pending 1. National Science Foundation - Computational and Data-Enabled Science and Engineering (CDS&E): Reconstructing the dynamics of the causal interaction in coupled dynamical systems ($500k, September 2019 - August 2022, PI: Violet Mwaffo, CU Boulder): Lead author for the preliminary findings and wrote the proposal.

6 In preparation 1. DoD, A control framework to synchronize or desynchronize a swarm from its reference trajectory, and to divert and contain it in bounded domain, (co-PI): Lead author for the preliminary results and writing the proposal. 2. National Science Foundation - Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL): Introducing Robotics, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence in STEM Education (RAISE), ($300k, July 2010 - August 2023, PI): Finalizing the outreach toolkit and the proof of concept paper, and writing the proposal.

Declined 1. National Science Foundation - Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL): Robotic Out- reach Activities to Promote STEM Education (RAISE),($3m, July 2019 - August 2023, PI: Sean Humbert, CU Boulder): Wrote the first draft, then revised based on PI and other co-PI feedbacks. 2. Google Game Of Philanthropy, Bio-inspired computational framework for autonomous collective motion of UAVs,($150k, September 2019 - August 2020, PI: Violet Mwaffo, CU Boulder): Wrote the proposal.

Service ME Department: External Relation Committee (ERC)

Reviewing Activities: Journal Reviewer for Automatica, Applied Mathematical Modelling, ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, Chaos, European Physical Journal, Europhysics Letters, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, IEEE Transactions on Systems, man, and Cybernetics: Systems, IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education, International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos (IJBC), International Journal of Control, Frontiers in Robotics and AI (Computational Intelligence), Journal of the Franklin Institute, Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control, PeerJ, Robotics and Biomimetics, The IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS) Conference Reviewer for: ASME DSCC Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, ASME/IMECE International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA)

Other skills MIT Professional Education: Certificate of Completion Machine Learning from Data to Decision, Nov. 2018 to Feb. 2019

• Understand data • Make predictions using regression, classification, neural networks, and reinforcement learn- ing • Make decisions under uncertainty • Determine causal inference

Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) and Pitts- burgh Supercomputing Center (PSC): Big Data Analytics and Machine Learning, August 6 and 7, 2019

• Big Data Platforms: Hadoop, Spark, and Bridges • Machine Learning: Recommender System with Spark • Deep Learning with Tensorflow

Softwares: Matlab, R, Python, Scikit learn, Spark, Tensorflow, PyTorch, HPC and GPU computing, C, C++, ROS, SQL, SAS B. certificate, SPSS, Linux, MS Office

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