__________________________

Recent news:

April 2026: David Copp presented a publication at the ASEE Zone IV conference about generative AI as a brainstorming partner for students learning engineering design.

January 2026: Our book chapter presenting an Optimization Framework for Frequency and Parameter Estimation in Low-Inertia Power Systems for Fast-Frequency Support was published by Springer.

September 2025: ASME published two articles on UCI MAE collaboration with the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum to build a full-scale replica WWI biplane focused on the project overall and specifically on the student experience.

August 2025: The Orange County Business Journal published an article on UCI MAE collaboration with the Flying Leatherneck Aviation Museum to build a full-scale replica WWI biplane

June 2025: Our research group contributed to five presentations at the 2025 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition.

April 2025: Congratulations to Derek Fan for presenting his work on parameter estimation for unmanned aerial vehicles at the IEEE Conference on Technologies for Sustainability (SusTech).

__________________________

Brief Biography:

David Copp is an Associate Professor of Teaching in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. He earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Arizona and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After his Ph.D., he worked on grid integration, analysis and control of grid-scale energy storage systems in a postdoctoral position and then as a senior member of the technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His broad research interests include engineering education, as well as control and optimization of nonlinear and hybrid systems with applications to power and energy systems, multi-agent systems, robotics and biomedicine.

Awards and Honors: