Dr. Jordan D. Larson
Research Director   

Dr. Jordan Larson is an assistant professor at The University of Alabama in the department of aerospace engineering and mechanics. He received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctorate in aerospace engineering and mechanics from the University of Minnesota where he also spent one year as a post-doctoral research associate. While at Minnesota, he was fortunate enough to be a part of a variety of research projects at the University and for companies in the Twin Cities. These projects included cell phone-based navigation for small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS), multi-sensor fusion for battery management systems and multi-target tracking, and multi-agent tracking and planning using random finite sets (RFS).

​Starting with his dissertation, Dr. Larson has also worked with advanced statistical methods for validation and verification of sensor data fusion algorithms based on sensor error bounding, a concept known as overbounding. Development of his method known as Gaussian-Pareto Overbounding (GPO) is ongoing. In addition, Dr. Larson also leads the sUAS operations and guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems for the Remote Sensing Center. This includes the optimal design of the sUAS platforms for remote sensing using radar, the command and control (C2) for performing field operations, and the high precision navigation required for advanced remote sensing concepts.

Vaughn Weirens
Graduate Researcher   

Vaughn Weirens is a Ph.D Candidate working for LAGER. He received a B.S. degree in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA in 2017, and a M.S in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA in 2021. His research interests include guidance, navigation, and target tracking for multi-agent and multi-sensor systems, including Random Finite Sets filtering approaches for both air and space applications. At LAGER, Vaughn works on developing algorithms for the carbs and gncpy Python libraries.

Tuan Luong
Graduate Researcher   

Tuan Luong is a second year Ph.D. student in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics. He received his B.S and M.S in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Alabama. He began working for the Remote Sensing Center under Dr. Larson in 2019 and joined LAGER in 2020. At LAGER, Tuan has work on several projects including integration of navigation data logger suite for manned aircraft, 2 DOF stabilization platform for airborne manned FMCW radar, tablet based flight director for aerial survey application and development of a 15-state EKF with GPS heading measurement. He is working on projects such as the development of a heavy lift hexacopter for unmanned airborne research, micro UAVs for swarm operation, and expanding LAGER flight control codebase. His research interests include control algorithms for unmanned systems, optimal state estimation, and sensor fusion.

Adam Hallmark
Graduate Researcher   

​Adam Hallmark received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in aerospace engineering and mechanics from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA, in the spring and summer of 2022, respectively. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and mechanics at the University of Alabama.
Adam has been a graduate research assistant for LAGER since the summer of 2022. His primary research interests include verification and validation of safety-critical eVTOL operations, optimal and robust control, and stochastic systems.

Dawson Pierce
Graduate Researcher

Dawson is currently pursuing a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering, and a master of science degree in aerospace engineering and mechanics through the accelerated masters program. He expects to receive both from The University of Alabama in spring 2024.  

Arden Markin
Masters Student

Arden is a junior in Aerospace Engineering with a minor in Computer Science and Math. In fall of 2023, Arden enrolled in the accelerated master’s program for aerospace and joined the LAGER research lab. Since then, he has assisted in several projects including LAMBU, QUESO, and Astrobotics. Arden is also the vice-president of the university’s aerospace honor society and is heavily involved with AIAA and the Bama ultimate frisbee team.

Phillip Varnedoe
Masters Student

Phillip received his B.S in Aerospace Engineering from The University of Alabama in the spring of 2024. He is currently pursuing his M.S in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics as well as an MBA through The University of Alabama’s Manderson Graduate School of Business. Since joining LAGER during the summer of 2024, he lead the redesign and hardwear development of the QUESO project, as well as assisted in the structural optimization of the SUPER and MIMSOA platforms.

Zachary Herring
Undergraduate Research Assistant   

​Zachary is a junior in Aerospace Engineering and received a Bachelors of Science in Operations Management from The University of Alabama in 2019. After returning to The University of Alabama August ’21 to pursue his passion in aerospace, he joined LAGER in the summer of 2022 to assist on Remote Sensing Center Operations as well as hardware development for projects including  SUPER, QUESO, LAMBU, and Astrobotics. Zachary was awarded the 2022 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Assistant for the department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics as well as being featured in the university’s Where Legends Are Made campaign.

Aabhash Bhandari
Masters student   

Aabhash joined LAGER as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in Fall 2020 as a sophomore. He mostly works on expanding the software packages of LAGER including the full stack development of ground control station for autonomous swarming and teaming. He has also worked on design, integration, testing, and operation of sUAS for remote sensing applications. He was awarded the 2022 outstanding senior award as well as the 2022 ECOB undergraduate student of the year award by the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics. His research interests include planning, tracking, and control of multi-agent intelligent systems.

Isaiah Newell
Masters Student   

In February 2022, Isaiah joined LAGER as a junior in AEM. During his time as a research student, he made significant contributions to all vehicle-based projects, taking the lead on several and providing assistance on non-mechanical initiatives. Isaiah served on deployments as the lead pilot and took on the role of team lead for external endeavors supporting LAGER, notably overseeing Astrobotics, SESSION, and LAMBUv1. Beyond his professional pursuits, he harbors ambitions of serving as a pilot for the USAF and pursuing a career as a developmental engineer. In May 2024, Isaiah completed his Masters of Science in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics (MSAEM). His involvement with the on-campus club, Tuska UAV, was significant, affording him hands-on experience with drones and honing his piloting skills.

Ryan Thomas
Ph.D. (2023) 

Principal Project Engineer at Northrop Grumman

Jacob Pierce
MS (2022)

Real Time Programmer at Simulation Technologies

Will Robertson
MS (2022)

Navigation Engineer at The Boeing Company