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A/Prof. Tomonari Furukawa

Dr. Tomonari Furukawa

Department of Mechanical Engineering,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
Institute for Advanced Learning and Research,
150 Slayton Ave., Danville, VA 24540 USA
E-mail: tomonari[at]vt.edu
Tel: 434-766-6632
Fax: 434-791-3279
Personal homepage: http://www.mech.unsw.edu.au/content/staff/Furukawa.cfm?ss=4
Research group: Computaional Mechanics and Robotics Laboratory

Biography

Tomonari Furukawa is a Senior Lecturer at University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, Australia. He received the B.Eng. in Mechanical Engineering from Waseda University, Japan, in 1990, the M.Eng. (Research) in Mechatronic Engineering from University of Sydney, Australia, in 1993 and Ph.D in Quantum Engineering and Systems Science from University of Tokyo, Japan, in 1996. He was an Assistant Professor (1995-1997) and Lecturer (1997-2000) at the University of Tokyo, and Research Fellow (2000-2002) at the University of Sydney before joining UNSW. His research work focuses on inverse analysis and optimisation methods in computational mechanics and robotics. In computational mechanics, he has developed various techniques for material characterization and structural design in aerospace structures in collaboration with Cooperative Research Centre on Advanced Composite Structures and US Naval Research Laboratory. His primary research focus in robotics is on the autonomous control of cooperative UAVs/MAVs. He has published over 160 technical papers and won various early career research awards and paper awards including the most prestigious computational mechanics young investigator award from International Association on Computational Mechanics.

Qualifications

  • 1990 B.Eng.: Mechanical Engineering, Waseda University, Japan
  • 1993 M.Eng. (Res): Mechanical Engineering, University of Sydney
  • 1996 Ph.D: Quantum Engineering and Systems Science, University of Tokyo, Japan

Employment

  • 1995-1997 Assistant Professor: University of Tokyo
  • 1997-2000 Lecturer: University of Tokyo
  • 2000-2002 U2000 Research Fellow: University of Sydney
  • 2002-2004 Lecturer: School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales
  • 2004-: Senior Lecturer

Visiting Appointments

  • July 2002-ongoing Visiting Research Fellow: Australian Centre for Field Robotics, University of Sydney
  • June/July 2003 Visiting Scholar: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Tohoku University
  • Jan/Feb 2004, Jan-July 2006 Visiting Fellow: Center of Computational Material Science, US Naval Research Laboratory

Awards

  • 2000 JSME Young Investigator Award: Awarded by Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • 2004 APACM Young Investigator Award for Computational Mechanics: Awarded by Asian-Pacific Association on Computational Mechanics
  • 2004 IACM Young Investigator Award for Computational Mechanics: Awarded by International Association on Computational Mechanics
  • 2004 Best Paper Award Finalist: Awarded in IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'04)
  • 2005 Best Student Paper Presentation Award (with his student): Awarded in International Conference on Sensing Technologies 2005 (ICST'05), Palmeston North, NZ, November
  • 2006 JACM Young Investigator Award for Computational Mechanics: Awarded by Japan Association on Computational Mechanics

Professional Activities

  • Secretary, Australian Association for Computational Mechanics
  • International Advisory Committee: International Conference on Advances in Structural Engineering and Mechanics (ASEM)
  • International Scientific Committee: Asia-Pacific International Conference on Computational Methods in Engineering
  • International Organizing Committee: International Conference on Computational Engineering and Sciences (ICCES)
  • International Organizing Comittee: US-Asian Demonstration and Assessment on Micro Aerial Vehicles
  • Technical Program Committee: International Conference on Sensing and Technology (ICST)
  • Technical Committee: IEEE Technical Committee on Micro Aerial Vehicles
  • Program Committee: International Conference on Multi-objective Evolutionary Computation
  • National Organizing Committee: IFAC Symposium on Mechatronic Systems

Teaching Areas

  • Robotics, Control, Computational Mechanics, Materials Mechanics, Computer-Aided Engineering, Parallel Computing

Research Interests

  • Optimisation, Robotics, Cooperative control, Micro aerial vehicles, Material characterisation, Multi-disciplinary design, Multi-physics analysis, Nonlinear finite element analysis, Smart materials and structures