Craig Beal

Craig Beal is a assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Some of his interests include vehicle dynamics and control, product design and mechatronics and robotics. He was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to research vehicle safety systems. Read Professor Beal's profile and learn about the P1 vehicle, the electric drive-by-wire car owned and operated by Bucknell University.

Educational Background

• B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Bucknell University, 2005
• M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2007
• Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2011

Research Interests

• Vehicle dynamics and control
• Control system design and implementation
• Product design
• Mechatronics and robotics
• Modeling of dynamic and nonlinear systems

Courses Taught

• System Dynamics (MECH 405)
• Robotics (MECH 453)
• Mechanical Design (MECH 392)
• Graphics (MECH 202)
• Senior Design (MECH 401/402)
• Vehicle Dynamics and Control (MECH 454)

Recent Awards

• Jane W. Griffith Faculty Fellow

Selected Publications

JOURNAL PAPERS

C. G. Bobier-Tiu, C. E. Beal, J. C. Kegelman, R. Y. Hindiyeh, and J. C. Gerdes, “Vehicle control synthesis using phase portraits of planar dynamics,” Vehicle System Dynamics, pp. 1–20, 2018.

C. E. Beal and C. Boyd, “Coupled lateral-longitudinal vehicle dynamics and control design with threedimensional state portraits,” Vehicle System Dynamics, pp. 1–28, 2018.

C. E. Beal and J. C. Gerdes, “Model predictive control for vehicle stabilization at the limits of handling,” IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, vol. 21, pp. 1258–1269, July 2013.

CONFERENCE PAPERS

C. Boyd and C. E. Beal, “Vehicle stabilization during critical cornering scenarios using sliding surface control,” in Proceedings of the 2017 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Tyson’s Corner, VA, USA, ASME DCSD, October 2017.

C. E. Beal, “Stabilization of a vehicle traversing a short low-friction road segment,” in Proceedings of the 2017 IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications, Kohala, HI, USA, IEEE Control Systems Society, August 2017.

C. E. Beal and J. G. Orbison, “An interactive professional ethics case simulation,” in Proceedings of the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Columbus, OH, USA, ASEE, June 2017.

C. E. Beal, “Miniature electric vehicle laboratory for introductory and advanced coursework,” in Proceedings of the 2017 American Control Conference, Seattle, WA, USA, ASME DCSD, May 2017.

C. E. Beal, “Independent wheel effects in real time estimation of tire-road friction coefficient from steering torque,” in Proceedings of the 2016 IFAC Symposium on Advances in Automotive Control, Norrkoping, Sweden, International Federation of Automatic Control, Automotive Control TC, June 2016.

L. Giugliano and C. E. Beal, “Dynamic rear-end collision mitigation for a vehicle about to be struck,” in Proceedings of the 2015 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference, Columbus, OH, USA, ASME DCSD, October 2015.

H. Yang, D. McBlane, C. Boyd, C. Beal, and S. Brennan, “Vehicle road departure detection using anomalies in dynamics,” in Proceedings of the 2016 American Control Conference, Boston, MA, USA, ASME DCSD, June 2016.