I am a PhD Candidate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in the Department of Electrtical and Computer Engineering under the supervision of Prof. Bin Hu. I did my M.S. in Electrical Engineering at UIUC with Prof. Seth Hutchinson.

My research is focused on the interplay of Control and Machine Learning. The safety critical aspect of the real-world systems motivates us to theoretically understand the data driven and machine learning systems. The safety and performance guarantees for such systems can be studied using control theoretic frameworks. Specifically, I work on the theoretical understanding of data driven algorithms such as reinforcement learning and online optimization algorithms. Prior to this, I was working on bio inspired flight control for micro aerial vehicles.

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Interests
  • Generative AI
  • Online Optimization and Adaptive Control
  • Learning based Control Systems
  • Bio Inspired Robotics
Education

  • Ph.D Candidate in Electrical Engineering, 2019-2024

    University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

  • M.S. in Electrical Engineering, 2019

    University of Illinois Urbana Champaign

  • B.S. in Mechatronics Engineering, 2011

    National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan

Experience

 
 
 
 
 
Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant
ECE Department, UIUC
Aug 2015 – Present Urbana, Illinois

  • Teaching Assistant:

    ECE 486 Control Systems
ECE 470 Intro to Robotics
ECE 330 Probability with Engineering Applications

  • Research Assistant:
    Analysis of RL Algorithms and online optimization techniques under the supervision of Prof. Bin Hu

    Project B2: Bat-inspired Flight Control under the supervision of Prof. Seth Hutchinson

 
 
 
 
 
Research Associate
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
Jan 2014 – Aug 2014 Islamabad, Pakistan
 
 
 
 
 
Lab Engineer
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST)
Aug 2011 – Dec 2013 Islamabad, Pakistan

  • Teaching Assistant:

    EC-204  Data Structures & Object Oriented Programming
MTS-232 Electro-Mechanical Systems
MTS-336 Instrumentation & Measurements
MTS-315 Mechatronics System Design

  • Research Assistant:

    Path planning algorithms in dynamic environments  
Image segmentation using Neural Network for autonomous driving

Research Projects

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All LLMs for Engineering Online Optimization and Control Reinforcement Learning Flight Control Computer Vision Robotics
Interdisciplinary Engineering Solutions Through the use of Large Language Models
Facilitating the interdisciplinary collaboration and problem-solving in engineering domains therough Large Language Models.
Interdisciplinary Engineering Solutions Through the use of Large Language Models
Online Optimization and Control
Understanding the fundamental connections between online optimzation and online control. Utilizing control theoretic framework for the dynamic regret and tracking error analysis of online optimzation algorithms. Likewise, utilizing online optimzation in the design of adaptive control laws for the control of linear systems.
Online Optimization and Control
Exact behavior of TD learning algorithms
Use of Markov Jump Linear Systems theory for the finite time analysis of Temporal Difference learning algorithms.
Exact behavior of TD learning algorithms
Bio Inspired Flight Control
Study of the biological bat flight; design and implementation of a bat inspired flight controller for a MAV.
Bio Inspired Flight Control
3D Imaging and Analysis for Road Maintenance
A low cost solution for estimating the cost of road and pavement maintenance by utilizing Kinect sensor and 3D imaging.
3D Imaging and Analysis for Road Maintenance
Mobile robot path planning in dynamic environments
Design and implementation of motion planning algorithms for mobile robot in dynamic environments.
Mobile robot path planning in dynamic environments

Publications

Usman Ahmed Syed, Ethan Light, Xingang Guo, Huan Zhang, Lianhui Qin, Yanfeng Ouyang, Bin Hu (2024). Benchmarking the Capabilities of Large Language Models in Transportation System Engineering: Accuracy, Consistency, and Reasoning Behaviors. Under review in Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies.

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Usman Ahmed Syed, Yingying Li, Bin Hu (2024). Online Nonstochastic Control vs. Retrospective Cost Adaptive Control. IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS) 2024.

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Darioush Kevian, Usman Ahmed Syed, Xingang Guo, Aaron Havens, Geir Dullerud, Peter Seiler, Lianhui Qin, Bin Hu (2024). Capabilities of Large Language Models in Control Engineering: A Benchmark Study on GPT-4, Claude 3 Opus, and Gemini 1.0 Ultra. Under review in ACC 2024.

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Muhammad Umer Huzaifa, Dimuthu Dharshana, Muhammad Aneeq uz Zaman, Usman Ahmed Syed (2023). Simplified Modeling of Hybrid Soft Robots with Constant Stiffness Assumption. 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (ROBIO).

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