Pranav A. Bhounsule


Office: 2033 ERF (may not be in my office, best contact is through e-mail)

Mailing Address:
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering,
842 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607

Phone: 312-355-8991
Email: pranav AT uic DOT edu

Publications

Click to see all of my papers and theses
See research ยป

Experience

Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical and Industrial Engg, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL, USA                                            Aug. 2019 - present
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas San Antonio, TX, USA                                                    Aug. 2014 - July 2019
Postdoctoral Researcher, Disney Research Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA                                                                                       Jan. 2012 - July 2014
Visiting Researcher, Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA                                                                  Jan. 2012 - Dec. 2013

Education

Ph.D. (Mechanical), Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA,                                                                                                        Aug. 2006 - May 2012 
M.Tech. (Applied Mechanics), Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India                                                                     Aug. 2004 - May 2006
B.E. (Mechanical), Goa Engineering College, Goa, India                                                                                                                     July 2000 - May 2004

Personal / Miscellaneous

1. My review on Goa College of Engineering, Farmagudi, Goa, India (my under-grad. institute, written in 2005).                                   web-link | cache
2. In the summer of 2009, I digitized Human Power Lab's (Andy Ruina's Cornell Lab) 18 year old (1991 - 2008) tape collection which               web-link
    amounted to 100 hours of video.
3. My race results on athlinks
        Personal Records:
             Runs
                  6.2mi (10kms) 46min 33sec at Pittsburgh, PA in 2012
                  13.1miles (21.1 kms), half marathon: 1h 37m 42s at Nashville, TN in 2021
                   26.2miles (42.2 kms), marathon: 3h 34m 28 s at Corning, NY in 2010
              Triathlon
                   1.2mi(1.9 km) swim - 56 mi(90 km) bike - 13.1mi(21.1km) run: 6 hr 54m 13sec at Syracuse, NY in 2013
My experiments with training
4. In 2019, I switched my tenure track job.A write up on my experience and a perspective. If you want my job application material (CV, research and teaching statement, cover letter, diversity statement), just shoot me an email.
5. 20 Thoughts on Earning the PhD (~30 min YouTube video)

(1) PhD is different from BS/MS
(2) Coursework not very useful
(3) Learn enough, on the fly
(4) Research Assistant works 24 x 7 almost
(5) Figure out the goal early on
(6) Maintain a research notebook
(7) Master tools relevant to your work
(8) Automate by creating templates
(9) Dont remember dates, use a calendar
(10) Always backup your work

(11) Know the literature
(12) Learn how to get unstuck
(13) Learn how to present your work
(14) Learn to write scientific work
(15) How to learn a new skill: do little everyday
(16) You need letter writers
(17) Maintain a personal website
(18) Figure out what you want to do after PhD early on
(19) Where/When to find jobs
(20) Dont burnout

Teaching 

Teaching at UIC
I11. ME428: Numerical Methods
       - Taught in Fall 2023, To be taught in Fall 2024.
I10. ME511:Mechatronics
        - Taught in Spring 2023. Course notes/videos are here: tiny.cc/mechatronix
I9. ME510: Robotic Manipulators
        - Taught in Fall 2022.
        - Course notes/videos/python files are here: tiny.cc/roboticspy
        - MuJoCo in python tiny.cc/mujocopy
I8. ME370 Mechanical Engineering Design
       - Taught in Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2024
I7. ME594 Legged Locomotion
       - Taught in Spring 2021 for the first time. Course notes/videos/code are here: tiny.cc/legged
I6. ME410 Automation and Robotic Applications: First course in robotics
       - Taught in Fall 2020. Course notes/videos/MATLAB files are here: tiny.cc/robotics
       - Taught in Fall 2023. Course notes/videos/Python files are here: tiny.cc/robotics23
       - To be taught in Fall 2024
I5. ME250 Introduction to Engineering Design and Graphics: Introductory course on drafting, design, prototyping including automation using Arduino, sensors, and motors
       - Taught in Fall 2019, Spring 2020

Teaching at UTSA
I4. EGR2513 Dynamics: About kinematics and dynamics of particles and rigid bodies
       - Taught in Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018
I3. ME3543 Dynamic Systems and Control: About single input, single output linear controls.
       - Taught Spring 2016.
       - Final project, designing a PID controller for Flappy Birtd
I2. ME4543 Mechatronics: About Sensors, Microcontrollers, and Actuators
       - Taught in Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Fall 2018
       - Iron Man comes to class (Spring '15), click for video
       - Mechatronics Final Project Sumobot (Spring '15). Battling Rowdy Bots, click for video
       - Mechatronics Final Project Robo Professor click for video and reports/instructions on github
I1. ME4773/5493 Fundamentals of Robotics: About modeling, dynamics, and control of manipulators and mobile robots
       - Taught in Fall 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2019
       - Webpage featuring projects in the class webpage
       - Introduction to ROS and URDF webpage
       - Christian Trevino's pendulum prototype for the DoSeum (Fall '14). (click for video) News (link) (cached)
       - LEGO Labs to accompany lectures (Fall '15) (click for video)
       - Animated Face, HW (Fall '16) YouTube link
       - Manipulator Curves, HW (Fall '16) YouTube link
       - Project: Single player pong on GitHub with instructions and code.
       - Project: LARPA Robotics Challenge (LARPA = LEGO, Automated, Reliable, Powered, Agents) (click for video)


Last updated June 24, 2024 by Pranav Bhounsule
Website designed by Emily Phan