Junsoo Lee

Mechanical Engineering

300 Main Street, Room A132

Columbia, SC 29208

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of South Carolina, where I direct the Dynamics and Control Lab. My research develops the mathematical foundations of dynamical systems and control — stability theory, optimal control, and stochastic systems — and applies them to autonomous and networked systems, including multiagent coordination, swarm optimization, and uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Before joining USC in 2022, I earned my Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.S. in Mathematics from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and my B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Seoul National University.

Research interests

My work spans the theory and application of nonlinear and stochastic dynamical systems. Current themes include:

Finite-, fixed-, and semistability of discrete-time, hybrid, and stochastic systems
Optimal feedback control and Lyapunov-based design
Stochastic systems and control under uncertainty and communication noise
Multiagent systems, network consensus, and networked control
Swarm robotics and swarm intelligence
Robust control
Aerial robotics — tethered multirotor UAVs (MUAVs)
Autonomous systems and UAVs — long-term missions, motion planning, reinforcement learning, and swarm optimization

I am always glad to hear from prospective students and collaborators interested in dynamics and control — please reach out by email.

Recent News

Jun 17, 2026	Our paper Thermodynamic Particle Swarm Optimization Swarm Search in Dynamic Environment, by Evan Sill, Kavan Bojappa, and Junsoo Lee, was accepted at IMECE 2026. 🎉
May 09, 2026	Kavan Bojappa and Evan Sill graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and Hanna Lutz and Tyler Hilbert graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. Congratulations! 🎓
Apr 28, 2026	Congratulations to three Dynamics and Control Lab undergraduates on their research awards: Dan Walters received the Journey Grant for Early Researchers Award (Multi-layered Decision Making for Long-term Autonomous UAV System with Battery Degradation); Ashton Keller received the Capstone Scholars Program award (Battery Degradation in Long Term UAV Missions); and Elisheba Lee received the Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant Program award (Thermodynamic Particle Swarm Optimization for Autonomous Reconnaissance and Search). 🎉
Apr 24, 2026	Hanna Lutz, Andersen Spina, and Shashwat Yadav presented their work at Discover USC 2026 — where Andersen won First Place in Morning UGR: Engineering and Computing C. 🏆🎓
Apr 04, 2026	Dan Walters received the McNair Research Fellowship for Summer 2026, for his project The Effect of Battery Management on Continuous UAV Field Monitoring. 🎉
Mar 31, 2026	Shashwat Yadav received the NASA South Carolina Space Grant Consortium Undergraduate Research Award, for his project Robust Control Framework for Retractable Tether Multirotor UAVs. 🚀
Dec 13, 2025	Shruti Jadhav graduated with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Congratulations! 🎓
Dec 05, 2025	Congratulations to Peter Muir and Bode DiMarzio on receiving Undergraduate Research Mini-Grant Awards — Peter for Distributed Particle Swarm Optimization for 3D Aerial Swarm Systems, and Bode for Dynamic Thermodynamic Particle Swarm Optimization for Ground Swarm in Confined Space. 🎉
Nov 17, 2025	Hanna Lutz and Shashwat Yadav presented at the Undergraduate Expo, IMECE 2025, Memphis — where Shashwat won second prize. 🥈
Nov 04, 2025	Junsoo Lee was nominated for the 2026 Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. 🎉

Recent Publications

IEEE/CAA JAS

Review on Particle Swarm Optimization: Application Toward Autonomous Dynamical Systems

Kavan Bojappa and Junsoo Lee

IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica, 2025

Bib

@article{bojappa2025pso,
  title = {Review on Particle Swarm Optimization: Application Toward Autonomous Dynamical Systems},
  author = {Bojappa, Kavan and Lee, Junsoo},
  journal = {IEEE/CAA Journal of Automatica Sinica},
  volume = {12},
  number = {9},
  pages = {1762--1775},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {IEEE}
}

Dynamics

Review of Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Building Versatile and Robust Tethered Multirotor UAV System

D. Handrick, M. Eckenrode, and Junsoo Lee

Dynamics, 2025

Bib

@article{handrick2025tethered,
  title = {Review of Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: Building Versatile and Robust Tethered Multirotor UAV System},
  author = {Handrick, D. and Eckenrode, M. and Lee, Junsoo},
  journal = {Dynamics},
  volume = {5},
  number = {2},
  pages = {17},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {MDPI}
}

SIADS

Nontangency-Based Lyapunov Tests for Convergence and Stability in Discrete-Time Systems

Junsoo Lee, Sanjay P. Bhat, and Wassim M. Haddad

SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems, 2025

Bib

@article{lee2025nontangency,
  title = {Nontangency-Based Lyapunov Tests for Convergence and Stability in Discrete-Time Systems},
  author = {Lee, Junsoo and Bhat, Sanjay P. and Haddad, Wassim M.},
  journal = {SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems},
  volume = {24},
  number = {2},
  pages = {1711--1751},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {SIAM}
}

IJCAS

Motion Planning of Quadrotor UAV via Reinforcement Learning in Unknown Obstacle Environment

J. Park, S. Lee, and Junsoo Lee

International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems, 2025

Bib

@article{park2025motion,
  title = {Motion Planning of Quadrotor UAV via Reinforcement Learning in Unknown Obstacle Environment},
  author = {Park, J. and Lee, S. and Lee, Junsoo},
  journal = {International Journal of Control, Automation and Systems},
  volume = {23},
  number = {10},
  pages = {3035--3047},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {Springer}
}

Book chapter

Lyapunov Analysis for Discrete-Time Stochastic Systems with Application to Network Consensus

Wassim M. Haddad and Junsoo Lee

In Smarter Cyber Physical Systems: Enabling Methodologies and Applications, 2025

Bib

@incollection{lee2025smartercps,
  title = {Lyapunov Analysis for Discrete-Time Stochastic Systems with Application to Network Consensus},
  author = {Haddad, Wassim M. and Lee, Junsoo},
  booktitle = {Smarter Cyber Physical Systems: Enabling Methodologies and Applications},
  pages = {113},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {CRC Press}
}

Upcoming Conferences

ICML	July 6–11, 2026 · Seoul, South Korea
CCTA	August 12–14, 2026 · Vancouver, BC, Canada
IROS	September 27 – October 1, 2026 · Pittsburgh, PA, USA
MECC	October 25–28, 2026 · Phoenix, AZ, USA
IMECE	November 8–12, 2026 · Vancouver, BC, Canada