Azad Ghaffari

Azad Ghaffari is an Assistant Professor at Christopher Newport University's School of Engineering and Computing. He holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from K.N. Toosi University of Technology. His research focuses on safe control of autonomous vehicles, robotics, and energy systems, with a particular emphasis on model-free optimization and renewable energy applications. Dr. Ghaffari has taught over 700 students across five institutions, specializing in control theory, optimization, and electrical engineering courses. He has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Michigan and UC San Diego, and brings six years of industry experience in control systems for power plants and photolithography lasers. His work addresses critical challenges in autonomous systems safety, energy conversion, and traffic flow management.

Research interests include trajectory planning for quadrotors, nonlinear estimation for vehicle dynamics, and hierarchical traffic control frameworks. Key contributions span CLF-CBF-based quadratic programming for mobile robots and modular safety control architectures. He has collaborated on the Warrior Robotics Team project and developed innovative solutions for energy optimization in photovoltaic and wind systems. His articles frequently explore extremum seeking algorithms, Lyapunov-based stability, and real-time safety verification techniques.

Dr. Ghaffari's career bridges academia and industry, with practical applications in precision contouring, component swapping modularity, and distributed control systems. His research has been published in high-impact journals and conferences, emphasizing both theoretical advancements and real-world implementation.