Christina Ivler | University of Portland

Christina Ivler

Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering

Christy IvlerI have always had a love for flight vehicles. My areas of expertise are simulation modeling and automatic control of helicopters, drones, and aircraft. After conducting master’s degree research on an unmanned ducted-fan aerial vehicle, I worked for 13 years as a research scientist for the U.S. Army, developing flight controllers for helicopters.

I am currently working on developing standards for unmanned aerial systems—drones. This work includes developing maneuvers for testing the flying qualities of drones. I test those maneuvers with a small, six-rotor drone called a “hexacopter” that my students and I fly on campus. We are also working with NASA on technologies that scale to larger electric multi-rotor vehicles for air-taxi applications and planetary rotorcraft.

I hire undergraduate researchers to help me during the summer and the academic year. They help me run simulations of unmanned systems, perform flight tests, analyze data, co-author papers, and present our research to collaborators. I mentor them in the specialized dynamics and control methods needed to conduct this research, and I teach them presentation and technical writing skills.

My scholarship keeps me current in new engineering topics and gives me inspiration for real-life examples to draw from in class. I enjoy the sense of community on campus. I enjoy my colleagues and our shared mission to provide students with a high-quality education.

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