Jason O'Kane

Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
University of South Carolina

Director, Center for Computational Robotics

Storey Innovation Center 2229
550 Assembly Street
Columbia, SC 29208
+1-803-777-1791 (office)

Curriculum vitae

I'm recruiting new students for my research lab. Want to join?

We are hosting an REU site in Computational Robotics.

Information for USC Students

• Need to meet with me?
• Need a reference letter?
• Need advisement?
• Want a free lunch?

Research

• Publications
• A Gentle Introduction to ROS (free book)
• The Robot Design Game
• Events:
  • Workshop on Minimality and Trade-offs in Automated Robot Design (at RSS 2017)
  • Workshop on Multi-Robot Systems in Automation: Topics in Planning and Control (at CASE 2016)
  • Workshop on Minimality and Design Automation (at RSS 2016)
• Current graduate students:
  • Adem Coskun
  • Shervin Ghasemlou
  • Jeremy Lewis
  • Hazhar Rahmani
  • Marios Xanthidis
• Former graduate students:
  • Laura Boccanfuso, now at Yale University.
  • Yang Song, now at Groupon.
  • Nick Stiffler, now at Rutgers University.
• We are grateful for funding from:
  • National Science Foundation
  • DARPA
  • South Carolina Developmental Disabilities Council
  • Southeastern Conference
  • USC Office of Research

Teaching

• CSCE 350 (Data Structures and Algorithms): [Summer 2016] [Summer 2015] [Spring 2015] [Spring 2014] [Fall 2010] [Fall 2007]
• CSCE 374 (Introduction to Robotics): [Fall 2013] [Fall 2012]
• CSCE 574 (Robotics): [Spring 2014] [Spring 2013] [Spring 2012] [Spring 2011] [Spring 2010] [Spring 2009] [Spring 2008]
• CSCE 750 (Analysis of Algorithms): [Fall 2015] [Fall 2016] [Fall 2017]
• CSCE 774 (Robotic Systems): [Fall 2011] [Fall 2009] [Fall 2008]
• CSCE 790 (Special Topics): [Spring 2016] [Fall 2016]
• CSCE 791 (Seminar on Advances in Computing): [Fall 2011]

News

2017-12-12	A recent article from the SECU highlights my research with Dylan Shell.
2017-12-06	I was invited to address the USC Faculty Senate, to discuss my experience writing A Gentle Introduction to ROS specifically, and the creation of open education resources generally.
2017-03-11	Interviews with me and some colleagues about our graduate programs aired on ETV Andhra Pradesh, a Telugu-language Indian television station. [Video]
2017-03-11	The research of my Ph.D. student Jeremy Lewis was featured in an article in The Patriot.
2016-04-06	Nick Stiffler successfully defended his dissertation. Visibility-Based Pursuit-Evasion in the Plane Nick was also named by the department as the Outstanding Graduate Instructor for 2015-2016 academic year. Congratulations!
2015-11-13	Yang Song successfully defended his dissertation. Constrained Geometric Approximation Algorithm for Robot Planning and Distributed Multi-Robot Formation Algorithm Congrats!
2015-04-17	The USC Office of Research named me a "Breakthrough Star" for 2015, which means (a) some nice recognition, (b) a small, vaguely obelisk-like award, and (c) a free dinner.
2015-03-02	It was an honor for me to give a short course on "Automated Filtering and Planning for Simple Robots" in the Seventh Winter School on Computational Geometry at Amirkabir University in Tehran.
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