Chris Hixenbaugh, Ph.D.
Unmanned Undersea Systems Division
Naval Undersea Warfare Center
Division Newport
Friday, October 30, 2026, 3:10pm
Chase 105
Abstract
Evaluating the balance between vehicle efficiency and mission feasibility for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) is a non-trivial challenge that depends heavily on the implicit coupling between the surrounding environment and the vehicle’s capabilities. While AUV control systems and dynamic environmental estimation have each been extensively researched as independent fields, developing intelligent AUV controllers that incorporate environmental knowledge into decision-making processes remains a relatively novel area of research. This project aims to establish a foundation for further research into controllers capable of leveraging environmental information to make informed assessments and decisions regarding mission completion. Using open-source simulation software and the Sparse Identification of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems (SINDy) framework, this project seeks to bridge the gap between control theory and dynamic environmental modeling.
Bios
Dr. Chris Hixenbaugh is the branch head of the Unmanned Undersea Systems Autonomy Software branch at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) in Newport, Rhode Island. His research interests are in scientific machine learning, data-driven control, and computationally efficient machine learning techniques. He is the PI or co-PI on multiple grants from the Office of Naval Research, Naval Innovative Science and Engineering, and Naval Engineering Education Consortium programs. Chris received his B.S. in Physics from Westminster College, his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
Dan Lavoie is a SMART scholar with NUWC Newport and is completing his master's degree in computer science. He is a researcher and advisor on the UNH MANTARAY Team. He is interested in vehicle control systems and hopes to pursue researching and evaluating various experimental controllers.
Seth Rossman is a second-year Master of Science student in computer science at UNH, funded by the Naval Engineering Education Consortium. Seth serves as a researcher and graduate advisor for the UNH MANTARAY Team. His research advances autonomous underwater systems, with a focus on multi-autonomous underwater vehicle pathfinding, formation control, and underwater robotics.
