Dan Negrut

Professor Dan Negrut is a faculty member in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, affiliated with the College of Engineering. He holds the Mead Witter Foundation Chaired Professorship and is a recognized leader in high-performance computing and robotics simulation.

Education:

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, University of Iowa (1998)
• BS in Mechanical Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest (1992)

Research Interests:

• Computer modeling and simulation of robots and autonomous vehicles
• High-performance computing and GPU-accelerated algorithms
• Fluid-solid interaction and granular dynamics
• Terramechanics and extraterrestrial mobility
• Autonomous systems and sensor simulation

Recent Contributions: His work focuses on advancing physics-based simulation tools like Project Chrono, which supports open-source frameworks for robotics, autonomous vehicles, and granular systems. Recent trends in his publications emphasize sim-to-real gap quantification, lunar rover mobility, and AI-driven digital twins.

Awards:

• NSF CAREER Award (2009)
• NVIDIA CUDA Fellow (2010)
• LEED Scholar (2017)
• ASME Best Paper Awards (2017–2023)

Advising & Grants: He advises graduate students in mechanical engineering and computer science, focusing on robotics and autonomous systems. His research is supported by federal grants and industry partnerships. Notable projects include the Synchrono platform for autonomous vehicle simulation and Chrono::Electronics for electro-mechanical systems.

Labs & Teams: His team develops Project Chrono, an open-source simulation engine used globally for robotics, automotive, and aerospace applications. Collaborations span academia and industry to address challenges in autonomous systems and space exploration.