• Office Address: Min H. Kao Building, Room 641
• Phone: 865-974-5468
• Fax: 865-974-5483

Education

• PhD in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2016
• BS in Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, 2011
• BA in Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Whitman College, 2011

Dan Wilson holds a PhD (2016) in Mechanical engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara.  He received a BS (2011) from the University of Washington in Mechanical Engineering and a BA  (2011) from Whitman College in Natural and Mathematical Sciences.  Most recently, he was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh.

Using tools from dynamical systems and control theory, Wilson’s research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of biological dysfunction in order to develop better treatments than those that are currently available.  A significant focus of this research is on the development of model reduction techniques that can be used to reduce the dimensionality of complicated biological models so that further analytical progress can be made on problems that would otherwise be intractable from both an analytical and system control perspective.

Current applications of interest include the development of control strategies to eliminate and prevent arrhythmias that ultimately lead to cardiac arrest, a leading cause of death in industrialized nations.  Also of interest is the treatment of neurological disorders characterized by excessive synchronization of neural firing patterns where the ultimate goal is to develop better Deep Brain Stimulation protocols for patients afflicted with Parkinson’s disease.

• Model reduction of nonlinear dynamical systems
• Limit cycle oscillators
• Optimal control
• Neuroscientific and cardiological applications