Jason Rife

Jason Rife is a Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering at Tufts University's School of Engineering, also holding a joint appointment in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He leads the Automated Systems and Robotics Lab, focusing on safe human-machine interactions, autonomous vehicle navigation, and control systems. His research emphasizes validating navigation performance for critical automated systems, such as automated ground vehicles and aircraft landing.

Education: Ph.D. (Stanford University, 2004), M.S. (Stanford, 1999), B.S. (Cornell University, 1996). Prior to joining Tufts in 2007, he was a Research Associate at Stanford's GPS Laboratory, studying aircraft navigation systems.

Research Interests: Navigation, autonomous systems, state estimation, human-robot interaction, safety-critical transportation, and control systems. His work bridges robotics, aerospace, and automotive engineering, with applications in autonomous vehicle safety and precision navigation.

Grants & Awards: Recipient of the Lillian and Joseph Leibner Award (2020), Best Paper awards, and grants from NSF, FAA, and the U.S. Department of Transportation. He has led projects on software-state observability, adaptive system identification, and trusted human-robot teamwork.

Teaching: Courses include Advanced Dynamics, Optimal Control, and Collaborative Robotics. He has coordinated graduate and undergraduate engineering programs, including the Human-Robot Interaction joint PhD.

Professional Activities: Served on the Institute of Navigation's Satellite Division Board, organized conferences, and reviewed for journals like IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and the Journal of Aircraft.