Email: mreiser@caltech.edu Phone: 626-395-5827

Research:
My background is in conventional EE and CS pursuits, with an emphasis on robotics and control theory. I am interested in applying biological principles to robotic systems, and seeking out control systems present in nature. Human-engineered systems have difficulty making robust decisions in the face of uncertainty. Clearly biological systems have much to teach us about the integration of sensing into actions. During my first year in the lab, I developed a simulation/mobile robot hybrid, which we've called "Flyball" (short for Flying Eyeball). This gizmo implements a robotic control system inspired by current behavioral and physiological models of Drosophila. We've had moderate success achieving surprisingly robust fly-like robotic behavior with a simple control system. More recently, I have developed a modular system for presenting controlled visual stimuli to flies, and have been using the system to investigate some mysterious aspects of the visual flight control system of Drosophila.

Personal page: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~mreiser/
Panels page: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~mreiser/panels.html

Education:
B.S. Electrical Engineering, University of Florida, 2000
B.S. Computer Engineering, University of Florida, 2000
M.S. Electrical Engineering, UC Berkeley, 2002
Ph.D. Computation & Neural System, Caltech, expected 2006