Bennet Outland
Education
PhD in Aerospace Engineering Sciences
Current
University of Colorado Boulder
MS in Computer Science and Engineering
2025
South Dakota Mines
Thesis: Autonomous Cislunar Rendezvous: Efficient Trajectory Generation and Computation. GPA: 4.00. Advisor: Dr. Alexander Soderlund (AFRL-RVSW).
BS in Mechanical Engineering — Summa Cum Laude
2024
South Dakota Mines
Capstone: Spacecraft Simulation via Omnicopter Dynamics. GPA: 3.92.
Research Interests
My research interests are in nonlinear dynamical systems and the control of agents within such systems. Some of the fundamental research challenges that I am interested in are: denoising diffusion control, stochastic trajectory optimization, stability analysis, controlling objects in hypersonic rarefied flow, performing autonomous proximity operations with interacting fluid boundary layers or under chaotic dynamics, system identification for feedback control systems, and explainable nonlinear controllers. Specifically, this can be applied to cases of chaotic gravitational flow fields, such as cislunar space, combined drag and gravitational effects of spacecraft in very low Earth orbit (VLEO), and the control of unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) in turbulent waters. I also have experience in deep computer vision and signal processing for space situational awareness as well as general data analysis and simulation for investigating the stability of planetary systems.
Forthcoming Journal Publications
Orbital Stability of Closely-Spaced Four-planet Systems
Icarus
B Outland, G. Noble, A. Smith, J. Lissauer
- Investigated the lifetimes of four-planet systems and demonstrated the importance of mean motion resonances and how initial orbital conditions can be designed to create systematic changes to system lifetimes.
Orbital Stability of Nonuniformly-Spaced Many-planet Systems
In preparation
J. Lissauer, K. Ohrtman, B Outland, A. Smith
- Investigation of the stability of planetary systems with non-uniform inter-planet spacing, extending earlier work on uniform-spacing systems.
Orbital Stability of Closely-Spaced Many-planet Systems
In preparation
J. Lissauer, B Outland, K. Ohrtman, A. Smith
- Analyzing the lifetimes of planetary systems with many planets, challenging the conventional assumption that stability behavior converges for large planet numbers.
Conference Presentations
VLEO Satellite Modeling and Orbital Maintenance
2025
B Outland, X. An
- AAS Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference
- State-space modeling of a satellite in hypersonic rarefied flow via sparse regression, with successive convexification for orbital maintenance.
Talks & Presentations
2025
UUV Self-Localization and Intelligent Mapping
2023
B Outland, J. McGough, R. Loveland
- Naval Engineering Education Consortium — Naval Undersea Warfare Center
- Presentation on robust autonomous mapping and the evaluation of mapping algorithm performance for unmanned undersea vehicles.
Starting Longitudes and the Lifetimes of Closely Spaced Four-Planet Systems
2021
G. Noble, B Outland, A. Smith, J. Lissauer
- American Geophysical Union Fall Conference
- Systematic trends and sensitivity of multi-planetary systems to initial orbital separation.
Orbital Stability of Compact Four-Planet Systems
2021
B Outland, G. Noble, A. Smith, J. Lissauer
- American Astronomical Society — Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting
- Updated systematic study of four-planet systems including details about lifetime phase shifting.
Dependence of Lifetimes of Closely-Spaced Planetary Systems on Number of Planets
2021
J. Lissauer, S. Gavino, A. Smith, B Outland, G. Noble, P. Gratia
- American Astronomical Society — Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting
- How stability characteristics change as more planets are added to compact systems.
Orbital Stability of Compact Four-Planet Systems
2020
B Outland, G. Noble, A. Smith, J. Lissauer
- American Geophysical Union Fall Conference
- Initial results of a study on the lifetimes of four-planet systems analogous to those observed by the Kepler spacecraft.
Honors
Outstanding Senior Award
2024
Second Year Recipient
Outstanding Senior Award
2023
Recipient
Dean's List
2021–2023
All Pure Undergraduate Semesters
Tau Beta Pi
2023–Current
South Dakota Alpha Chapter Member
National Society of Leadership and Success
2022–Current
Member
Awards
Senior Design CRADA
2023–2024
$5,000 for the development of a customizable omnicopter, report with theoretical underpinnings, and design of a novel control algorithm.
DoD SMART Scholarship for Service Award Extension
2022
≈ $45,000 Award Adjustment for pursuing a Master of Science in Computer Science and Engineering
DoD SMART Scholarship for Service
2022
≈ $98,000 Award for pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Academic Service
ME Faculty Search Committee
2023–2024
South Dakota Mines
- Equal member of a faculty search and selection committee for tenure track and non-tenure track positions
- Vetted prospective faculty applications and conducted interviews with prospective faculty
- Scrutinized faculty research and teaching capabilities during in-person interviews
- Assisted in determining if candidates were acceptable or not acceptable to hire
EECS Department Admissions Events
2021–2022
South Dakota Mines
- Volunteered and helped coordinate admission events for the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department
- Assisted in or gave demonstrations on computer vision and reinforcement learning
- Hired afterward to plan and occasionally execute these events as well as create new demonstrations
Experience
Air Force Research Laboratory — AFRL/RVSW
January 2023 – Current
SMART Scholar
- Pursuing research in cislunar autonomous rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (ARPOD). Developed a novel algorithm for debris detection from a satellite constellation, built a spacecraft modeling and control library in Julia, and designed low-cost cislunar rendezvous trajectories. Work spans data-driven control, astrodynamics, state estimation, and cyber security for space systems.
Naval Engineering Education Consortium / Naval Undersea Warfare Center — SD Mines
January 2022 – May 2024
Researcher
- Environment mapping under information sparsity. Developed metrics for agent exploration performance, benchmarked state estimation algorithms, and created an algorithm for autonomous exploration of unknown cave environments.
NASA Ames Research Center — Orbital Dynamics
January 2019 – Current
Researcher
- Investigating the theoretical lifetimes of compact planetary systems analogous to those observed by Kepler and TESS. Developed a multiprocessing N-body simulation pipeline using the Rebound package. Resulted in four conference presentations and forthcoming journal publications.
South Dakota Mines
August 2023 – May 2025
Graduate Teaching Assistant
- TA for Programming for Engineers and Scientists (CSC 115 and CSC 170). Ran help sessions, wrote exam questions, and graded assignments.
Department Outreach — South Dakota Mines
January 2022 – Current
Undergraduate Outreach
- Organized department admission events for the EECS Department. Created reinforcement learning control, deep computer vision, and autonomous vehicle demonstrations tailored for general audiences.
South Dakota Mines — Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF)
June 2018 – August 2019
Volunteer Summer Intern
- Assisted in the development of Radon mitigation systems for SURF. Researched Radon content trapped on materials to reduce exposure to the LUX Dark Matter detector. Participated in clean room work and preparation to transport systems to SURF.
Projects
Projects
2024
Rocker Robotics — Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition
2024
Autonomy and Controls Tech Lead for SD Mines' IGVC entry. Won Rookie of the Year. Implemented MPPI control, A* path planning, and frontier-based autonomous exploration.
- Autonomy and Controls Technical Lead (2022–23), then team member (2023–24) for South Dakota Mines’ entry in the International Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition.
- Results: Won Rookie of the Year award and placed in the design competition.
- Technical contributions:
- ROS-based sensor integration (LIDAR, GPS, camera) Lane detection via computer vision Path planning with A* Trajectory tracking with Model Predictive Path Integral (MPPI) Control Frontier-based autonomous exploration for course navigation
Omnicopters for Spacecraft Simulation
2024
AFRL-funded senior design project using omnicopters as hardware-in-the-loop spacecraft simulators. Developed optimal motor placement and a novel indoor disturbance-rejection control scheme.
- Senior design project and MS thesis component, funded by the LINCS Lab at the Air Force Research Laboratory ($5,000 CRADA award).
- Omnicopters — multirotor vehicles with full 6-DOF control authority — were used to simulate spacecraft attitude and translation dynamics in a hardware-in-the-loop configuration. Key contributions:
- Determined optimal motor placements and orientations for full controllability Developed a novel control scheme for rejecting air disturbances in indoor environments Validated the platform as a low-cost proxy for orbital spacecraft dynamics testing
Autonomous Spacecraft and Sensing
2024
Simulation of a LEO satellite with autonomous debris avoidance, optical debris detection, attitude correction, and cyber-attack resilience — built in the Basilisk simulator.
- A systems-level demonstration of autonomous spacecraft operations, presented to a general audience and built entirely in the Basilisk astrodynamics simulator.
- Capabilities demonstrated:
- Attitude correction and momentum management Onboard debris detection via simulated optical sensor using an optical flow background removal scheme Autonomous debris avoidance via thruster actuation Cyber-attack simulation targeting autonomous operations with minimal detectability Anomaly detection using LSTMs and isolation forests
Hall Thruster Design Optimization
2024
Adaptive neural surrogate for 1D Hall thruster discharge simulation, used to optimize magnetic field profiles for improved thruster efficiency.
- Personal project combining plasma physics simulation with machine learning-guided design optimization.
- Simulated 1D Hall thruster discharge and collected performance data across magnetic profile variations Trained an adaptive neural surrogate model of the discharge dynamics Jointly optimized thruster geometry and magnetic field profile to maximize efficiency
Autonomous Vehicles with Safety Guarantees
2024
Suite of autonomous driving demonstrations combining nonlinear MPC with control barrier functions (CBF-nMPC) for provably safe lane changes with dynamic obstacles.
- A demonstration suite for safe autonomous vehicle trajectory optimization.
- Lane, vehicle, pedestrian, traffic light, and sign detection pipelines Autonomous lane change via nonlinear model predictive control (nMPC) Safety-guaranteed lane change using Control Barrier Functions integrated into nMPC (CBF-nMPC), with formal guarantees of non-collision with simulated traffic
Automated Turret
2024
Blob-detection target acquisition with pixel-to-torque feedback control, tuned via data-driven transfer function identification.
- An automated turret with vision-based target tracking and feedback control.
- Detected a desired target via a blob detection scheme Performed pixel-to-torque feedback control to aim the turret Fine-tuned the controller after determining optimal gains from data-driven transfer function discovery
Adaptive HVAC for Unknown Deployment
2024
Physics-informed ARX system identification and PID optimization for HVAC control in environments with uncertain thermal parameters.
- A data-driven approach to HVAC control for environments with unknown thermal characteristics.
- Created a heat transfer model of a standard office/warehouse environment equipped with an HVAC system Embedded physical information of a general environment into ARX for model identification Gradient descent was used to optimize a PID controller to regulate the internal temperature
Detection of Debris from a Dynamic Satellite Platform
2023
Novel algorithm for detecting orbital debris from images taken by a moving space-based observer, using optical flow background removal that preserves faint objects.
- B. Outland, R. Loveland
- Developed a novel debris detection algorithm for space-based optical sensors. Classical background-subtraction methods systematically remove faint, slow-moving objects — exactly the objects of interest in space domain awareness.
- This approach uses an optical flow background removal scheme specifically designed to retain faint objects, followed by object detection classification. The method was validated on simulated imagery from a dynamic (tumbling/maneuvering) satellite observer.
Trebuchet Competition
2023
Model identification and regression for optimal trebuchet performance — part of Rocker Robotics competition team activities.
- Trebuchet design and optimization as part of Rocker Robotics competition activities (2021–2023).
- Assisted in trebuchet building and data collection for Rocker Robotics Performed model identification and regression to determine optimal counterweight masses and tang angles
Supersonic Phase-change Ejector Cycle for Thermal Refrigeration Efficiency (SPECTRE)
2023
Computational modeling and optimization of a novel supersonic ejector refrigeration cycle to improve thermal efficiency.
- Team design project analyzing and optimizing a supersonic phase-change ejector refrigeration cycle.
- Created computational models of various refrigeration cycles Analyzed a variety of working fluids for each cycle design Gave recommendations of components that are most beneficial to improve cycle efficiency Proposed an optimized design via solving an optimization problem numerically
Reinforcement Learning Control Demonstration
2023
Outreach demonstration covering RL control fundamentals, algorithm benchmarking, and live examples for a general audience.
- An outreach demonstration introducing reinforcement learning control to general audiences.
- Gave an introductory presentation at an appropriate technical level for non-specialists Developed a set of demonstrations of reinforcement learning control Performed algorithm benchmarking across multiple RL approaches
Deep Computer Vision Demonstration
2023
Introductory deep computer vision demo for general audiences — live object detection and neural style transfer via CNN.
- An outreach demonstration introducing deep computer vision to general audiences.
- Developed as part of department outreach efforts at South Dakota Mines:
- Gave an introductory presentation on applications of deep computer vision Implemented a live object detection demonstration via a CNN Modified and stabilized research code to perform live neural style transfer (NST) for various images Created a unified demonstration GUI for different computer vision algorithms
Brayton Cycle Optimization
2023
Analytical modeling and optimization of Brayton cycle configurations for maximum thermal efficiency and net work output.
- Team analysis of Brayton cycle variants for optimal thermodynamic performance.
- Created analytical models of various Brayton cycles Analyzed cycle exergy, thermal efficiency, and net work production Gave recommendations of components most beneficial to improve cycle efficiency Proposed an optimized design
Terrain Investigational and Navigational Automaton (TINA)
2022
Differential drive robot with computer vision-based path detection and pixel-to-torque feedback control for autonomous course navigation.
- A differential drive robot built for autonomous course navigation using computer vision feedback control.
- Built a differential drive robot with camera module Utilized computer vision techniques to determine desired path through the course Performed pixel-to-torque control to successfully navigate the course
Rocker Robotics — National Robotics Challenge
2022
Computer Science Technical Lead for an autonomous vehicle challenge entry — computer vision, high-fidelity simulation, and RL control.
- Rocker Robotics entry in the National Robotics Challenge Autonomous Vehicle Challenge (2021–2022).
- Competed in the National Robotics Challenge’s Autonomous Vehicle Challenge Implemented computer vision techniques to locate key features on the field Created a high-fidelity simulation environment Explored reinforcement learning control strategies
Teaching and Advising Experience
Graduate Teaching Assistant
2023–2025
South Dakota Mines
- Assist students in the Programming for Engineers and Scientists courses (CSC 115 and CSC 170)
- Run student help sessions, write exam questions, and grade assignments
Research Co-Mentor
2023–Current
Ohrtman
- Assisting in teaching/mentoring a student in programming, data analysis, data visualization, and astrodynamics
Teaching Interests
- Dynamics
- Numerical Analysis
- Introduction to Control Systems
- Spaceflight Mechanics
- Dynamic Systems
- Programming for Engineers
Courses and Topics
- Mechatronics
- Space Flight Mechanics
- Dynamic Systems
- Feedback Controls
- Thermo-Fluid Dynamics
- Linear Systems Theory
- Differential Equations
- Classical (Lagrangian and Quantum) Mechanics *
- Probability and Statistics
- Computations in Transport Phenomenon *
- Multivariate Calculus
- Linear Algebra
- Numerical Analysis
- Partial Differential Equations
- Data Structures
- Real Analysis
- Introduction to Robotics
- Tensor Calculus *
- Survey of Neural Networks
- Functional Analysis *
* In Progress
Skills
| Programming (Advanced) | Python, Julia, C++ |
| Programming (Intermediate) | Matlab, R, C, HTML/CSS |
| Data Science | NumPy, Pandas, Sci-Kit Learn, Tensorflow, Flux.jl, PyTorch, MLPack, SciML Suite |
| Autonomous Systems | Mobile Ground, UAV, UUV, Spacecraft |
| Robotics Software/Hardware | ROS, Autopilot, OpenCV, 0MQ, FreeCAD, Jetson Nano, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, LIDAR, GPS |
| Simulation Suites | Gazebo, Basilisk, Rebound, Unity |
| Linux Operating Systems | Experienced with Debian and Arch derivatives for computational research and daily personal use |
| Office Programs | LaTeX, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Writer, Calc, Impress |
| Speaking | Experienced technical presenter |
| Foreign Language | Spanish (Intermediate) |