Robyn Woollands

For More Information

• woollands research group

Education

• PhD Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2016
• MS Aerospace Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2010
• MS Astronomy, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2008
• Graduate Certificate Antarctic Studies, University of Canterbury, NewZealand, 2008
• BS Physics, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, 2006

Academic Positions

• Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021-present
• Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2017-2020
• Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M, 2017

Other Professional Employment

• Mission Design Engineer, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 2017-2020; JPL Affiliate (2021-present)
• Junior Scientist, Department of Physics & Astronomy, Nova Neutrino Detector, University of Minnesota, 2011-2012

Research Interests

• Astrodynamics
• Optimal Control
• Picard-Chebyshev Methods
• Space Mission Design

Selected Articles in Journals

• “New Solutions for Lambert's Problem Utilizing Regularization and Picard Iteration”, R.M. Woollands, A. Bani Younes, and J.L. Junkins, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, v38, Issue 9, pp 1548-1562, 2015.
• “Nonlinear Differential Equations Solvers via Adaptive Picard-Chebyshev Iteration: Applications in Astrodynamics”, R.M. Woollands and J.L. Junkins, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, May, 2019.
• “Efficient Computation of Optimal Low Thrust Perturbed Orbit Transfers”, R.M. Woollands, E. Taheri and J.L. Junkins, Journal of Astronautical Sciences, May, 2019.
• "Maximizing Dust Devil Follow-up Observations on Mars using Cubesats and On-board Scheduling", R.M. Woollands, F. Rossi, T. Stegun Vaquero, M. Sanchez Net, S. Bae, V. Bickel, J. Vander Hook, Journal of Astronautical Sciences, accepted, March 2022.
• Analytical Radial Adaptive Method for Spherical Harmonic Gravity Models", A.M. Atallah, A. Bani Younes, R.M. Woollands, J.L. Junkins, Journal of Astronautical Sciences, accepted, March 2022.

Honors

• Distinguished Graduate Student Doctoral Award, Texas A&M University (2017)
• John V. Breakwell Student Paper Award, AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference (2015)
• Outstanding Achievement in Guidance, Navigation and Control, Student Paper Award, AAS Guidance, Navigation & Control Conference (2014)

Recent Courses Taught

• AE 402 - Orbital Mechanics
• AE 502 - Advanced Orbital Mechanics
• AE 508 - Optimal Space Trajectories