Professor & Interim Director
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Thomas Alberts
1313 ENGR & COMP SCI BLDG
NORFOLK, 23529
Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Eng., Dynamics and Controls, Vibrations, Robotics, Georgia Institute of Technology, (1986)
M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, (1983)
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, (1982)
Contracts, Grants and Sponsored Research
- "Additional patent application funds provided to Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology" $10,000. -
- "Graduate Student Support" $38,583. October 10, 2008 - May 15, 2010
- Talley, W. K., Alberts, T. E., Britcher, C. P., Bawab, S., Karande, K., Gopinath, M. and Creedon, J. "Demonstrate Maglev M3 on ODU Guideway" $387,010. 2008 - 2009
- Alberts, T. E. and Cowen, B. "Demonstrate Maglev M3 on ODU Guideway: Phase I" $387,010. Local. May 1, 2008 - October 31, 2009
- Alberts, T. E. " The Urban Maglev Project at Old Dominion University" $1,990,000. Federal. January 1, 2002 - April 1, 2005
- Alberts, T. E. "Electromagnetic Rotational Power Harvester" $44,809. Local. January 1, 2002 - July 31, 2002
- Alberts, T. E. " Sensor Assembly Automation" $83,821. Local. March 15, 2001 - February 28, 2002
- Alberts, T. E. "Bearing Load Health Monitoring Sensors" $35,455. Local. January 1, 2001 - June 30, 2001
- Alberts, T. E. "Verification and Testing of the TrueLock Bolt Device" $2,800. Local. October 26, 2000 - November 30, 2000
- Alberts, T. E. "Integrated Sensor System for Load and Condition Assesment" $35,792. Local. January 1, 2000 - June 1, 2000
- Alberts, T. E. " Automation of Accelerometer Production Line" $21,905. Local. October 19, 1999 - March 31, 2000
- Alberts, T. E. "Smart Sensor Program Software Development; Amendment 1" $7,997. Local. September 6, 1999 - January 28, 2000
- Alberts, T. E. " Smart Sensor Program Software Development" $6,504. Local. June 21, 1999 - November 9, 1999
- Alberts, T. E. " Automation of Accelerometer Production Line" $46,750. Local. March 16, 1999 - October 18, 1999
- Alberts, T. E. "Advanced Combustion Pressure Sensor and Engine Diagnostic/Control Technology for Diesel Engines" $31,500. Local. April 10, 1998 - October 10, 1998
- Alberts, T. E. "Low Cost Piston Engine Health Monitoring and Control System for General Aviation" $24,000. Local. April 10, 1998 - October 10, 1998
- Alberts, T. E. " Development and Implementation of Boeing 757 Guidance and Control Laws" $74,000. Local. November 25, 1996 - December 31, 1997
- Alberts, T. E. "End-Point Control Units for Robot Arms with Flexible Gear Trains " $10,000. Federal. May 27, 1996 - July 27, 1996
- Alberts, T. E. " Time Domain Implementations of Generalized Frequency Domain Filters, " $35,815. Federal. March 16, 1995 - March 15, 1996
- Alberts, T. E. "Simultaneous Passive and Active Dissipation Mechanisms in a Gantry Crane and Spreader System" $17,125. Federal. January 7, 1994 - August 31, 1995
- Alberts, T. E. "Broadband Implementation of Feedforward Control for Dynamic Modification" $19,800. Federal. February 1, 1994 - September 30, 1994
- Alberts, T. E. " Active and Passive Control Designs for the FJSRL Flexible Structure Testbeds" $20,000. Federal. January 1, 1992 - December 31, 1993
- Alberts, T. E. "Advanced Control Law Designs for Flexible Spacecraft " $69,000. Federal. January 1, 1992 - December 31, 1993
- Alberts, T. E. "Active Control Design for the FJSRL Slewing Piezoelectric Laminate Beam, AFOSR Summer Graduate Student Research Program, Conducted at the US Air Force Academy, Frank J. Syler Laboratories. " $7,300. Federal. June 1, 1993 - August 31, 1993
- Alberts, T. E. "Graphite Fiber Enhancement of Viscoelastic Damping Polymers" $23,688. Private. January 15, 1992 - March 15, 1993
- Alberts, T. E. " Identification and Design of Nonlinear Control Systems Using Real-Time Neural Network" $5,050. Federal. August 6, 1992 - December 31, 1992
- Alberts, T. E. "Mathematical Modeling and Control of Flexible Spacecraft Systems" $65,475. Federal. January 1, 1991 - December 31, 1992
- Alberts, T. E. "Multivariable Transfer Functions and Optimal Passive Damping for a Slewing Piezoelectric Laminate Beam " $17,000. Federal. June 1, 1992 - October 31, 1992
- Alberts, T. E. "Mathematical Modeling and Control of Flexible Spacecraft Systems" $59,996. Federal. November 16, 1990 - December 31, 1991
- Alberts, T. E. "Hand Controller Evaluation Experiment Subjects" $5,700. Federal. August 16, 1990 - December 31, 1991
- Alberts, T. E. "Piezoelectric Damping of Flexible Structures" $90,000. Federal. January 1, 1989 - December 31, 1991
- Alberts, T. E. "Viscoelastic Damping of Torsional Vibrations " $22,000. Federal. July 1, 1990 - June 30, 1991
- Alberts, T. E. "Modeling and Control for Articulated Flexible Space Structures " $25,970. Federal. June 1, 1990 - December 30, 1990
- Alberts, T. E. "Influence of Joint Non-Linearities on the Control of Manipulators " $15,000. Federal. May 16, 1990 - August 15, 1990
- Alberts, T. E. "Viscoelastic Damping of Torsional Vibrations" $18,000. Federal. July 1, 1989 - June 30, 1990
- Alberts, T. E. "Passive Damping Augmentation for Space Manipulators " $121,486. Federal. May 16, 1988 - May 15, 1990
- Alberts, T. E. "Force Control of Multiple Coordinated Manipulators: Extension and Considerations for Space Applications " $55,170. Federal. January 1, 1989 - December 31, 1989
- Alberts, T. E. "Force Control of Multiple Manipulators: Implementation and Refinement " $62,622. Federal. January 1, 1988 - December 31, 1988
- Alberts, T. E. "Force Control of Multiple Coordinated Manipulators " $25,354. Federal. May 16, 1987 - December 31, 1987
- Alberts, T. E. "Programmable Robot Controller for Laboratory Research " $15,787. Federal. May 16, 1987 - December 31, 1987
Articles
- Alberts, T. E. and Hanasoge, O. (2011). On the Influence of Structural Flexibility on Feedback Control Stability for Magnetically Suspended Vehicles. J. Dyn. Sys., Meas., Control 133 (5) , pp. 7 pages.
- Alberts, T. E., Hanasoge, A. M. . and Omran, A. M.. On the Influence of Structural Flexibility on Feedback Control Stability for Magnetically Suspended Vehicles. ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control.
- Pota, H. R. and Alberts, T. E. (1998). Teaching Vibration Analysis using Symbolic Computation Software. The International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education 26 (2).
- Alberts, T. E. and Pota, H. R. (1997). Broadband Dynamic Modification Using Feedforward Contro;. ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems Measurement and Control 119 (4) , pp. 700-706.
- Cartmell, M. P., Morrish, L., Alberts, T. E. and Taylor, A. J. (1996). Controlling the Nonlinear Dynamics of Gantry Cranes. Machine Vibration 5 , pp. 197-210.
- Alberts, T. E. and Xia, h. (1995). Design and Analysis of Fiber Enhanced Viscoelastic Damping Polymers. Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 117 (4) , pp. 398-404.
- Kelkar, A. G., Joshi, S. M. and Alberts, T. E. (1995). Dissipative Controllers for Nonlinear Multibody Flexible Space Systems. AIAA Journal of Guidance Control Dynamics 18 (5) , pp. 1044-1052.
- Kelkar, A. G., Joshi, S. M. and Alberts, T. E. (1995). Dynamic Dissipative Compensators for Multibody Flexible Space Structures. IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems 31 (4) , pp. 1325-1330.
- Alberts, T. E., Dubois, T. V. and Pota, H. R. (1995). Experimental Verification of Transfer Functions for a Slewing Piezoelectric Laminate Beam. IFAC Journal of Control Engineering Practice 3 (2) , pp. 163-170.
- Kelkar, A. G., Joshi, S. M. and Alberts, T. E. (1995). Passivity-Based Controllers for Flexible Multibody Systems. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control 40 (5) , pp. 910-914.
- Alberts, T. E., Xia, H. and Chen, Y. (1992). Dynamic Analysis to Evaluate Viscoelastic Passive Damping Augmentation for the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System. ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control 114 (3) , pp. 468-475.
- Alberts, T. E., Xia, H. and Chen, Y. (1992). Dynamic Scaling of Flexible Structures with Viscoelastic Components. ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics 114 (4) , pp. 449-453.
- Alberts, T. E. and Colvin, J. A . (1991). Observations on the Nature of Transfer Functions for Control of Piezoelectric Laminates. Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures 2 (4) , pp. 528-541.
- Book, W. J., Alberts, T. E. and Hastings, G. G. (1986). Design Strategies for High Speed, Lightweight Robots. Computers in Mechanical Engineering 5 (2) , pp. 26-33.
- Alberts, T. E., Book, W. J. and Dickerson, S. L. (1986). Modeling and Control of Flexible Manipulators. SME Transactions - Manufacturing Technology Review 1 , pp. 134-144.
Book Chapters
- Silwa, N. E., Harrison, F. W., Soloway, D. I., McKinney, W. S., Cornils, K., Doggett, W. R., Cooper, E. G. and Alberts, T. E. (1992). Automation and Robotics Considerations for a Lunar Base (pp. 603-608) Lunar Bases and Space Activities of the 21st Century.
Conference Proceeding
- Alberts, T. E. (2011). , De-Centralized and Centralized Control for EMS MAGLEV System Levitation and Guidance Arlington VA: Paper WeAT3.3, DSCC 2011.
- Alberts, T. E., Aly, M. and Omran, A. (2010). Maglev-Girder Interaction for Centralized and De-Centralized Controllers 2010 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference.
- Hanasoge, A. M., Omran, A. M. and Alberts, T. E. (2008). Model Validation of a Magnetic Ball Levitation System Ann Arbor, MI: 2008 ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division Conference.
- Alberts, T. E. and Hanasoge, A. M. (2008). Modeling and Experimental Validation of an EMS Demonstration Vehicle (pp. 105-110) SanDiego.
- Alberts, T. E., Oleszuk, G. and Hanasoge, A. M. (2008). Stable Levitation Control of Magnetically Suspended Vehicles with Structural Flexibility (pp. 4035-4040) Seatle, WA: Proceedings of the 2008 American Control Conference.
- Alberts, T. E. and Oleszuk, G. (2006). On the influence of structural flexibility on feedback control system stability for EMS Maglev vehicles (pp. 331-336) Dresden: Maglev’ 2006.
- Alberts, T. E., Liu, S. and Lally, R. (2006). Investigation of an Inexpensive Piezoelectric Pressure Sensor for Internal Combustion Engine Spark Timing Control (pp. Paper Number : 2006-01-0183) SAE World Congress 2006.
- Hanasoge, A. M., Hans, S. A., Desetty, S., Bawab, S., Hou, G. J.W.. and Alberts, T. E. (2005). Effects of Track Irregularities on Dynamic Responses of a Moving Maglev Train (pp. Paper Number : 2005-01-0504) SAE World Congress 2005.
- Rybak, J., Alberts, T. E. and Gibbs, G. P. (2002). Considerations for Integral Bearing Health Monitoring Solutions MFPT.
- Alberts, T. E., Gibbs, G. P., Galie, T. and Kennamer, D. E. (2002). Load Measurements for Event Based Prognostication of Rolling Element Bearing Life Marcon.
- Zhu, X. and Alberts, T. E. (1998). A Comparison of Placement Choice for Piezoelectric Actuator in Active Vibration Control (pp. 155-159) 1998 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition.
- Zhu, X. and Alberts, T. E. (1998). Appending a Synthetic Mode to Compensate for Truncated Modes in Colocated Control (pp. 1976-1980) Boston, MA: 1998 AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference.
- Abdel-Motegaly, K. and Alberts, T. E. (1998). Robust Control for a Flexible Manipulator Using H Synthesis (pp. 365-372) Boston, MA: 1998 AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference.
- Alberts, T. E. and Pota, H. R. (1998). Review and Implementation Considerations for Broadband Dynamic Modification Using Feedforward Control (pp. 547-550) Florianopolis-SC: FIA I Congresso Iberamericano de Ac'ustica.
- Pota, H. R. and Alberts, T. E. (1997). Teaching Vibration Analysis using Symbolic Computation Software (pp. 1400-1401) 1997 American Control Conference.
- Alberts, T. E. and Pota, H. R . (1995). Broadband Dynamic Modification Using Feedforward Control (pp. 735-744) Boston, MA: 1995 Design Engineering Technical Conferences.
- Alberts, T. E., Dubois, T. V. and Pota, H. R. (1993). Experimental Verification of Multivariable Transfer Functions for a Slewing Piezoelectric Laminate Beam (pp. 515-518) Sydney: IFAC 12th World Congress.
- Kelkar, A. G., Joshi, S. M. and Alberts, T. E. (1993). Global Asymptotic Stability of Dynamic Dissipative Compensators for Multibody Flexible Space Structures (pp. 1277-1281) San Francisco, CA: 1993 American Control Conference.
- Alberts, T. E., Dubois, T. V. and Pota, H. R. (1993). Development and Experimental Verification of Multivariable Transfer Functions for a Slewing Piezoelectric Laminate Beam Ninth VPI\&SU Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Large Structures.
- Alberts, T. E., Harrell, J. V. and Xia, H. (1993). Simultaneously Optimal Active and Passive Control Design for a Slewing Piezoelectric and Viscoelastic Laminate Beam (pp. 693-704) Blacksburg, VA: Recent Advances in Active Control of Sound and Vibration.
- Pota, H. R. and Alberts, T. E. (1993). Control of a Flexible Slewing Link with Active Damping SPIE International Symposium Smart Structures and Materials '93.
- Alberts, T. E. and Xia, H. (1993). Investigation of Damping Properties for Fiber Enhanced Viscoelastic Damping Polymers Damping 1993.
- Alberts, T. E., Dubois, T. V. and Pota, H. R. (1993). Experimental Verification of Slewing Piezoelectric Laminate Beam Transfer Functions, with Both Minimum Phase and Non-minimum Phase Zeros (pp. 349-359) Bangalore: Intelligent Robotics, Proceedings of International Symposium on Intelligent Robotics.
- Kelkar, A. G., Joshi, S. M. and Alberts, T. E. (1992). Globally Stabilizing Controllers for Flexible Multibody Systems (pp. 2856-2859) Tucson, AZ: 1992 IEEE Conference on Decision and Control.
- Kelkar, A. G., Joshi, S. M. and Alberts, T. E. (1992). Asymptotic Stability of Dissipative Compensators for Multibody Systems in the Presence of Actuator/Sensor Nonlinearities (pp. 35-38) Dynamics of Flexible Systems: Theory and Experiment, 1992 ASME Winter Annual Meeting.
- Pota, H. R. and Alberts, T. E. (1992). Multivariable Transfer Functions for a Slewing Piezoelectric Laminate Beam Kobe: IEEE Int. Conf. on Systems Engineering.
- Kelkar, A. G., Koganti, G., Alberts, T. E. and Hou, G. (1992). CSI Design of Articulated Space Structures (pp. 307-315) Hilton Head,SC: AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Conference.
- Alberts, T. E. (1992). An Approach to Teaching Control System Design and Application (pp. 468-472) Chicago, IL: 1992 American Control Conference.
- Pota, H. R. and Alberts, T. E. (1992). Experiments in Control of Flexible Beam with Modified Outputs (pp. 222-230) Orlando, FL: SPIE Int. Symposium on Optical Engineering and Photonics in Aerospace Sensing Conf \# 1696 on Control for Optical Systems.
- Alberts, T. E., Xia, H. and Chen, Y. (1991). Dynamic Analysis to Evaluate Viscoelastic Passive Damping Augmentation for the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (pp. 35-41) Advances in Dynamics and Control of Flexible Spacecraft and Space-Based Manipulators.
- Alberts, T. E. and Colvin, J. A. (1991). Transfer Function Analysis for a Flexible Beam with Piezoelectric Film Actuators and Sensors (pp. 64-77) Blacksburg, VA: Recent Advances in Active Control of Sound and Vibration.
- Alberts, T. E., Kelkar, A. and Siciliano, B. (1991). Two-Time Scale Control for an Arm with Joint and Link Compliance (pp. 136-146) Bangalore: Intelligent Robotics, proceedings of International Symposium on Intelligent Robotics.
- Alberts, T. E. and Colvin, J. A. (1990). Transfer Functions for Piezoelectric Control of a Flexible Beam (pp. 381-391) SPIE Aerospace Sensing Conference.
- Alberts, T. E., Xia, H. and Chen, Y. (1990). Dynamic Analysis and Evaluation of the Space Shuttle Remote Manipulator System Kobe: International Symposium on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Automation in Space.
- Alberts, T. E. and Love, L. J. (1990). A Versatile Robot Control Architecture using Off-the- Shelf General Purpose Components Boston, MA: 1990 ASME Computers in Engineering Conference.
- Kelkar, A. and Alberts, T. E. (1990). Computing Maximum Tracking Error Due to Payload Dynamics (pp. 851-855) 1990 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
- Alberts, T. E., Love, L. J. and Bayo, E. (1990). Experiments with Endpoint Control of a Flexible Link Using the Inverse Dynamics Approach and Passive Damping (pp. 350-355) San Diego, CA: 1990 American Control Conference.
- Kelkar and Alberts, T. E. (1990). Computing Maximum Tracking Error Due to Payload Dynamics (pp. 851-855) Proceedings of the 1990 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
- Alberts, T. E., Chen, Y. and Xia, H. (1990). On the Effectiveness of Section Length Optimization for Constrained Viscoelastic Layer Damping Treatments (pp. 274-286) SPIE volume: Advances in Optical Structures.
- Alberts, T. E. and Colvin, J. A. (1990). Transfer Functions for Piezoelectric Control of a Flexible Beam (pp. 381-391) SPIE Volume: Advances in Optical Structures.
- Soloway, D. I . and Alberts, T. E. (1989). Comparison of Joint Space Versus Task Space Load Distribution Optimization for a Multi-Arm Manipulator System (pp. 431-443) NASA Conference on Space Telerobotics.
- Sliwa, N. E., Harrison, F. W., Soloway, D. I., McKinney, W. I., Cornils, K., Doggett, W. R., Cooper, E. G. and Alberts, T. E. (1988). Automation and Robotics Considerations for a Lunar Base Houstan, TX: Symposium on Lunar Bases & Space Activities for the 21st Century.
- Alberts, T. E. and Soloway, D. I. (1988). Force Control of a Multi-Arm Robot System (pp. 1490-1496) Proceedings of the 1988 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.
- Alberts, T. E. (1987). Progress in High-Speed Light-Weight Motion Control Atlanta, GA: 1987 Annual Material Handling Research Forum.
- Alberts, T. E. (1987). Progress in High-Speed Light-Weight Motion Control (Invited Paper) Atlanta, GA: Proceedings 1987 Annual Material Handling Research Forum, Georgia Institute of Technology.
- Alberts, T. E. (1987). Reducing Model Uncertainty Effects in Flexible Manipulators Through the Addition of Passive Damping (pp. 307-316) Proceedings of the NASA/JPL Workshop on Space Telerobotics.
- Alberts, T. E., Book, W. J. and Dickerson, S. L. (1986). On the Transfer Function Modeling of Flexible Structures with Distributed Damping 1986 ASME Winter Annual Meeting, published in bound volume Robotics: Theory and Applications.
- Alberts, T. E., Book, W. J. and Dickerson, S. L. (1986). On the Transfer Function Modeling of Flexible Structures with Distributed Damping (Invited Paper) Published in bound volume Robotics: Theory and Applications,.
- Alberts, T. E., Book, W. J. and Dickerson, S. L. (1986). Experiments in Augmenting Active Control of a Flexible Structure with Passive Damping AIAA 24th Aerospace Sciences Meeting.
- Lane, J. S., Alberts, T. E. and Dickerson, S. L. (1985). Flexible Manipulator Arms Using Active and Passive Control (pp. 68) MHRC Technical Report.
- Book, W. J., Dickerson, S. L., Hastings, G. G., Cetinkunt, S. and Alberts, T. E. (1985). Combined Approaches to Lightweight Arm Utilization (pp. 97-108) Published in bound volume Robotics and Manufacturing Automation.
- Alberts, T. E., Hastings, G. G., Book, W. J. and Dickerson, S. L. (1985). Experiments in Optimal Control of a Flexible Arm with Passive Damping (pp. 423-435) Blacksburg, VA: Proceedings of the VPI\&SU/AIAA Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Large Structures.
- Neusen, K. F., Chan, S. H. and Alberts, T. E. (1984). The Effects of Elevated Temperature and Pressure upon Erosion and Scale Removal by Submerged Cavitating Jets (pp. 589-600) Proceedings of the International Symposium on Jet Cutting Technology.
Presentations
- ( ). Numerous presentations regarding Maglev, Controls, Sensing, Robotics, etc. .
- Alberts, T. E. and Abdelkhalik, O. (February , 2004). Interval Control of Formations in Eccentric Orbits 14th Annual AAS/AIAA Space Flight Mechanics Conference .
- McKinney, W. S., Alberts, T. E. and Soloway, D. I. (August , 1988). A Computer Architecture for Laboratory Experiments in Robot Control 1988 ASME International Computers in Engineering Conference .
- Alberts, T. E. and Soloway, D. I. (June , 1988). Force Control of a Multi-Arm Robot System - Load Distribution Strategies 1988 American Control Conference .
- 2010: Excellence in Industrial Partering Award, Batten College of Engineering and and Technology
- 1999: Listed Lexingtons Who's Who,
- 1996: Listed Marquis in Who's Who in Finance and Industry, Maquis Who's Who
- 1996: Listed Marquis in Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Maquis Who's Who
- 1995: SERC Visiting Fellowship, University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
- 1994: SERC Visiting Fellowship, University College of Swansea, Wales UK
- 1993: Visiting Scholar, University of California Berkeley
- 1993: Visiting Fellow , University of New South Wales, Australian Defence Force Academy
- 1992: Summer Faculty Research Program, US Air Force Academy, Frank J. Syler Laboratories
- 1990: Research Collaboration wih Prof. Bruno Sicilano, Universita' Delgi Studi Di Napoli
- 1988: Outstanding Faculty Award, Mechanical Engineering Department, Old Dominion University
- 1986: Ph.D. Dissertation selected as outstanding, Mechanical Engineering Department, Georgia Tech
- 1984: Induction to Sigma Xi Honor Society, Sigma Xi
- 1983: Georgia Tech Industrial Fellowship, Georgia Tech
- 1978: SAE Outstanding Student Service Award, Society of Automotive Engineering