NRT Program

CPS RESEARCH TRAINEESHIP (NRT) PROGRAM

The National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) Program at UVA is the first of its kind in the U.S. and is leading the way in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) education.

We are in our final year of the NRT Program (Fall 2023-Spring 2024). However, many of the NRT program elements will continue! Please reach out to find out about the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary education program including:
  • Work in the Link Lab, a 17,000-square-foot interdisciplinary facility that is home to over 45 faculty and 280 students from six different engineering degree programs
  • Take hands-on, testbed-driven cyber-physical systems courses, including:

-Embedded Systems
-Machine Learning, Signal Processing, and Control
-Dynamical Systems
-Formal Methods, Safety, and Security

  • Conduct interdisciplinary research focused on smart cities, smart health, robotics and autonomous systems, hardware for IoT
  • Connect with an industry advisory board that includes Northrop Grumman, IBM, Leidos, National Instruments (NI), Perrone Robotics and Azbil
  • Earn a graduate certificate in cyber-physical systems

About the NRT Program

The National Science Foundation awarded UVA a five-year National Research Traineeship (NRT) grant to create a Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) education program. Through the CPS NRT Program, PhD and ME students will receive a degree in their respective degree program with a focus in CPS. Students in this exciting new education program will take core and in-depth CPS courses focused on a deep understanding of the interfaces between the cyber and physical worlds - driving discovery, innovation and education forward in the areas of Smart Health, Smart Cities, Robotics and Autonomous Systems and Hardware for IoT. The curriculum is based on integrated and testbed-driven CPS education as well as CPS research activities and professional development.

Industry Involvement

The CPS NRT Program utilizes an Industry Advisory Board to help identify skills and knowledge needed in industry, provide feedback on curriculum, offer ideas, support and resources for testbeds, and identify possible internships or full time post-graduation employment for students. The CPS NRT Advisory Board includes: Northrop Grumman, IBM, Leidos, EY, National Instruments, Perrone Robotics, and Azbil.

NRT Curriculum

Students in the CPS NRT Program will take a minimum of 3 “Core CPS Courses” and 2 “In-Depth CPS Courses”. Ph.D. and ME students will work with faculty advisors to create an individual plan for course selection (and research options for Ph.D. students). CPS courses listed below are also available for non-CPS NRT Program participants. The course requirements align with the requirements of the Graduate Certificate in CPS, so NRT students who complete the program will also be eligible for the certificate.

Additional information:

CPS Core Courses

This is a core Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) class. This course is designed to develop cross-competency in the technical, analytical and professional capabilities necessary for the emerging field of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). It provides convergence learning activities that are based around developing CPS test-beds and exploring the ethical, social and policy dimensions of CPS work. The course also introduces and emphasizes the importance of communication as a necessary skill.

Course Name: Cyber-Physical Systems Technology and Ethics

SAMPLE SYLLABUS

Course Numbers: CS 6780 / CE 6780 / SYS 6780 / MAE 6780 / ENGR 6780 / ECE 6501

Instructor: Brad Campbell and Arsalan Heydarian

Course is offered in Fall

(Previously listed under CPS1: Communication, Test-Beds & Policy- ENGR 6559 / CE 6500 / CS 6501 / MAE 6592 / SYS 6581)

This is a core Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) class. Embedded systems are special-purpose computers that are often tightly coupled with electronic and physical components and must operate within real-time performance, battery, and size constraints.

Course Name: CPS2: Advanced Embedded Systems

SYLLABUS

Course Numbers: ECE 6434 and CS 6434 (previously ECE 6501 and CS 6501)

Instructor: Homa Alemzadeh

Course is offered in Spring

 

This is a core Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) class. This course provides basic graduate level material in signal processing, machine learning, and feedback control. Knowledge in these areas is central to understanding and building CPS. However, the material is not presented in a traditional manner and does not replace deep domain expertise in these topics. Rather, the principles and skills taught highlight the intersection of the cyber and the physical and how they impact each other.

Course Name: CPS3: Signal Processing, Machine Learning and Control

SAMPLE SYLLABUS

Course Number: CS 6762

Instructor: Jack Stankovic or Felix Lin

Course is offered in Fall

 

This is a core Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) class. The course will focus on topics that are critical to CPS applications, e.g. pipe networks, lift/drag on vehicles, and relative reference frames in the context of autonomous vehicles and satellites, while avoiding topics that are specific only to advanced Mechanical Engineering, e.g. fluid instabilities and complex potential functions.

Course Name: CPS4: Dynamical Systems

SAMPLE SYLLABUS

Instructor: Osman Ozbulut or Dan Quinn

Course Numbers: MAE 6592, CE 6500

Next course offering is Spring 2025

This is a core Cyber Physical Systems class. Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are smart systems that include co-engineered interacting networks of physical and computational components. Examples of CPS include medical devices, cars, and robots. Increasingly, such systems are everywhere. It becomes more and more important to assure the safety and security of CPS, since many CPS applications are safety-critical and life-critical. This course will give you the required skills to formally analyze the CPS that are all around us, so that when you contribute to the design of CPS, you are able to understand important safety-critical aspects and feel confident designing and analyzing CPS system models.

Course Name: CPS5: Formal Methods, Safety, and Security

SAMPLE SYLLABUS

Instructor: Lu Feng

Course Number: CS 6763, SYS 6763 (previous course numbers: CS 6501, SYS 6582)

Course is offered in Spring

 

CPS Course Offerings

Graduate Courses

Core CPS Courses offered in Spring 2024 (see details for GRADUATE CERTIFICATE):

 

CPS 2: Advanced Embedded Systems Instructor: Homa Alemzadeh (M/W Time: 2:00pm - 3:15pm)

CPS 5: Cyber-Physical Systems: Formal Methods, Safety and Security (CS 6763) Instructor: Lu Feng Days: (T/Th Time: 2:00pm - 3:15pm) 

 

In-Depth CPS courses offered in Spring 2024

 

CE 5550 Advanced Numerical Simulation for Infrastructure & Environment (Leo Liu)

CE 6440 Advanced Transportation Systems (Brian Smith)

CE 6500 Remote Sensing for Environmental Engineers (Venkataraman Lakshmi)

 

CS 6465 Human-Robot Interaction (Tariq Iqbal)

CS 6501 Network Security and Privacy (Yixin Sun)

CS 6501 Learning in Robotics (Madhur Behl)

CS 6501 Engineering Interactive Technologies (Seongkook Heo)

CS 6501 Wireless Sensing for Internet of Things (Kun Qian)

 

ECE 6332 VLSI Design (Benton Calhoun)

ECE 6465 Human-Robot Interaction (Tariq Iqbal)

ECE 6502 Advanced Digital Design Laboratory (Mircea Stan)

ECE 6502 Network Security and Privacy (Yixin Sun)

ECE 6505 Machine Learning for Wireless Communications (Cong Shen)

 

MAE 6592 Modeling and Control of Manufacturing Processes (Qing Chang)

MAE 6260 Robotic Autonomy (Tomonari Furukawa)

MAE 6592 Turbulence & Multiphase Flow (Eric Loth)

 

SYS 6007 Human Factors I (Matthew Bolton)

SYS 6024 User Experience Design (Gregory Gerling)

SYS 6034 Discrete-Event Stochastic Simulation (Brian Park)

SYS 6050 Risk Analysis (James Lambert)

SYS 6465 Human-Robot Interaction (Tariq Iqbal)

SYS 6582 Human Error in Complex Systems (Sara Riggs)

SYS 6581 Modeling and Control of Manufacturing Processes (Qing Chang)

 

Undergraduate Courses

CE 3222 – Water Resources Engineering Workshop (Lawrence Band)

 

CS 4501 Wireless for the Internet of Things (Brad Campbell)

CS 4501 Engineering Interactive Technologies (Seongkook Heo)

CS 4501 Human-Robot Interaction (Tariq Iqbal)

CS 4710 Artificial Intelligence (Yen-Ling Kuo)

 

ECE 4501 Advanced Embedded Computing Systems (Homa Alemzadeh)

ECE 4501 Wireless for the Internet of Things (Brad Campbell)

ECE 4502 Human-Robot Interaction (Tariq Iqbal)

ECE 4784 Machine Learning for Wireless Communications (Cong Shen)

 

MAE 4260 Robotic Autonomy (Tomo Furukawa)

MAE 4501 Modeling and Control of Manufacturing Processes (Qing Chang)

 

SYS 4024 User Experience Design (Gregory Gerling)

SYS 4582 Human-Robot Interaction (Tariq Iqbal)

SYS 4582 Human Error in Complex Systems (Sara Riggs)

 

Two CORE CPS courses will be offered in Fall 2023:

CPS1: Cyber-Physical Systems Technology and Ethics - CS 6780 / CE 6780 / SYS 6780 / MAE 6780 / ENGR 6780 

T/Th 11:00am - 12:15pm (Rice Hall 340)

(Previously listed under CPS1: Communication, Test-Beds & Policy - ENGR 6559 / CE 6500 / CS 6501 / MAE 6592 / SYS 6581)

CPS3: Signal Processing, Machine Learning, and Control - CS 6762 

T/Th 12:30pm - 1:45pm (Rice Hall 340)

(previously listed under CS 6501)

In-Depth CPS courses:

CS 6111 Cloud Computing | Haiying Shen

CS 6434 Dependable Computing Systems | Homa Alemzadeh

CS 6501 Human-Computer Interaction | Seongkook Heo

CS 6501 Smart and Healthy Buildings | Brad Campbell, Arsalan Heydarian

CS 6501 Computational Behavior Modelng | Afsaneh Doryab

CS 6501 Autonomous Mobile Robots | Nicola Bezzo

 

ECE 6434 Dependable Computing Systems | Homa Alemzadeh

ECE 6501 Autonomous Mobile Robots | Nicola Bezzo

ECE 6501 AI Hardware | Mircea Stan

ECE 6850 Introduction to Control Systems | Zongli Lin

 

CE 5400 Traffic Operations | Brian Park

CE 6500 Smart and Healthy Buildings | Brad Campbell, Arsalan Heydarian

  

SYS 6005 Stochastic Modeling I | Tariq Iqbal

SYS 6021 Statistical Modeling I | Laura Barnes, Julianne Quinn

SYS 6050 Risk Analysis | Jim Lambert

SYS 6060 Autonomous Mobile Robots | Nicola Bezzo

SYS 6581 Computational Behavior Modelng | Afsaneh Doryab

SYS 6581 Human Factors in Safety | Matthew Bolton

SYS 6582 Smart and Healthy Buildings | Brad Campbell, Arsalan Heydarian

 

MAE 6592 Wind Energy | Eric Loth

MAE 6210 Analytical Dynamics | Qing (Cindy) Chang

MAE 6270 Experimental Robotics | Tomo Furukawa