Morpheus Lab  
 
search





Department of Aerospace Engineering Associate Professor Derek Paley has been promoted to the rank of professor by University of Maryland (UMD) President, Dr. Wallace Loh. The promotion is effective July 1, 2017.

Paley joined UMD faculty in 2007 and currently directs the Collective Dynamics and Control Laboratory where his research focuses on the areas of nonlinear dynamics and control, cooperative control of autonomous vehicles, adaptive sampling with mobile sensor networks, autonomous underwater vehicles and spatial models of biological collectives.

Paley has been recognized by the U.S. Whitehouse with a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers.

In addition, Paley has received a National Science Foundation Early Career Development Award, was named Engineer of the Year in 2015 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) National Capital Section and awarded the Clark School’s 2014 E. Robert Kent Teaching Award for Junior Faculty. He was also invited to present at the National Academy of Engineering’s 2016 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium during the “Extreme Engineering: Extreme Autonomy in Space, Air, and Land” session on “Autonomy Underwater: Ocean Sampling by Autonomous Underwater Vehicles.”

He received the B.S. degree in applied physics from Yale University in 1997, and then worked as an analyst in the defense industry for Metron, Inc. and then as a software engineer in the autonomous underwater vehicle industry for Bluefin Robotics Corp. in Cambridge, Mass. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University.

 



May 11, 2017


«Previous Story  

 

 

Current Headlines

UMD Alums Named Master Pilots by FAA

Wereley Named Fellow of the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering

Engineering safer, more sustainable AI for all

Tamunobelema Olungwe Gives Back

Celebrating Women’s History Month & Multiracial Heritage Month 2026

MATRIX Lab Advancing Smarter, More Affordable Autonomy

Team Crossfire Continues to Build Autonomous Wildfire Suppression Systems Despite Semifinals Loss

UMD Hypersonics Team Flies High in Inaugural Year

Grace O’Connell Selected for National Academies New Voices Program

TERP Raptor Team Receives 2026 AIAA Best Paper Award

 
 
Back to top  
Home Clark School Home UMD Home aero umd NIA NASA