Fotis Kopsaftopoulos

Fotis Kopsaftopoulos

Assistant Professor, Mechanical Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering

Email: kopsaf@rpi.edu
Phone: 518-276-6439

Education / Experience
  • PhD 2012, University of Patras, Greece
  • Postdoctoral Researcher 02/2012 - 02/2013, University of Patras, Greece
  • Postdoctoral Scholar 04/2013 - 09/2017, Stanford University
Research Expertise & Interests

Intelligent aerospace systems, structural health monitoring diagnostics and prognostics, stochastic system identification and machine learning, fly-by-feel aerial vehicles, bio-inspired systems, smart materials and structures. Prof. Kopsaftopoulos' research involves the development of a comprehensive framework that will enable future intelligent aerospace systems with state sensing and awareness capabilities based on multi-modal sensing, data-driven modeling, stochastic system identification, and advanced probabilistic monitoring and diagnostic methods.

Rotary-Wing/VTOL Application

Prof. Kopsaftopoulos' work focuses on the development of a unified structural health monitoring (SHM) and aeroelastic awareness approach for VTOL systems based on integrated passive and active sensing diagnostics within a statistical framework that accounts for environmental, operational, and structural uncertainty. He is developing advanced data-based stochastic identification and modeling methods for accurately representing the aeroelastic response of VTOL within complex dynamic environments and uncertainty, while he is tackling local and global damage detection, localization and quantification based on a hybrid probabilistic framework that seamlessly integrates passive and active sensing methods.