The ocean is unforgiving, Md Jahidul Islam, Ph.D., will tell you.
“Signals attenuate, GPS disappears, visibility collapses and communication is limited,” said Islam, the Yangbin Wang Rising Star Endowed Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
And as director of the University of Florida’s RoboPI Laboratory, Islam is immersed in marine robotics research to ease the danger for humans working and exploring in the ocean. With other UF researchers, he is also helping protect underwater computer hardware from cyberattacks.
Islam oversees the overall vision and technical direction of UF’s marine robotics research. He said this research includes defining core scientific questions, mentoring students and guiding system integration for robotics from algorithm design to ocean deployment.