Robyn Woollands

For More Information

• woollands research group

Education

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

Academic Positions

• Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M, 2017
• Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2017-2020
• Assistant Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2021-present (100%)

Other Professional Employment

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

Research Interests

• Optimization
• Astrodynamics
• Space Mission Design
• Picard-Chebyshev Methods
• High-fidelity Propagation
• Space Domain Awareness

Selected Articles in Journals

• R.M. Woollands and J.L. Junkins, “Nonlinear Differential Equations Solvers via Adaptive Picard-Chebyshev Iteration: Applications in Astrodynamics”, Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, May, 2019.
• R.M. Woollands, E. Taheri and J.L. Junkins, “Efficient Computation of Optimal Low Thrust Perturbed Orbit Transfers”, Journal of Astronautical Sciences, May, 2019.
• R.M. Woollands, F. Rossi, T. Stegun Vaquero, M. Sanchez Net, S. Bae, V. Bickel, J. Vander Hook, "Maximizing Dust Devil Follow-up Observations on Mars using Cubesats and On-board Scheduling", Journal of Astronautical Sciences, May 2022.
• A.M. Atallah, A. Bani Younes, R.M. Woollands, J.L. Junkins, "Analytical Radial Adaptive Method for Spherical Harmonic Gravity Models", Journal of Astronautical Sciences, May 2022.

Honors

• Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Young Investigator Career Award (2024)
• 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 403 - Spacecraft Attitude Control
• AE 502 - Advanced Orbital Mechanics
• AE 508 - Optimal Space Trajectories