Shinkyu Park is an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to joining KAUST, He was Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University engaged in cross-departmental robotics projects. He received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Maryland College Park in 2015. Later he held Postdoctoral Researcher positions at the National Geographic Society (2016) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2016-2019).

Research Vision and Interests

Park envisions the future with robots self-organizing into a large group and assisting people with physically demanding tasks. He aims to make foundational advances in robotics science and engineering to build individual robots’ core capabilities of sensing, actuation, and communication and to train them to learn the ability to work as a team and attain high-level of autonomy in distributed information processing, decision making, and manipulation. His current research interests include robotics, multi-robot learning/coordination, feedback control theory, and game theory.

Teaching Interests

Park is an educator who believes that successful engineering education bases on effective university programs in teaching students to learn fundamentals in multidisciplinary topics and training them to find creative solutions in unstructured problems. His teaching experience includes mentoring students of diverse backgrounds in research projects and delivering lectures on topics related to his research areas -- robotics, multi-robot learning/coordination, feedback control theory, and game theory -- to motivate students to learn the importance of fundamentals in research projects.

Why RISC?

In my research group in RISC, we find new and creative approaches on synergizing the individual robots’ core capabilities and strengthening autonomy of robotic groups in order to solve large-scale problems, otherwise impossible with individual robots. We imagine such advancements in robotics science and engineering will build smarter cities where robots collect sensor data and act for modeling and curbing the spread of disease, improve the infrastructure of services, and ensure people’s sustainable living.

Why KAUST?

It is exciting to be a part of such a diverse and resourceful research community. Park believes that KAUST is a unique place where he can make his research vision a reality.