Gregory P. Starr

Professor of Mechanical Engineering

The University of New Mexico

[Late winter on the high plains of New Mexico]

Late winter in central New Mexico

March 2, 2008

Thought for the day: "It's easier to teach math to someone with a mechanical aptitude than to teach mechanical aptitude to a mathematician..."

Bring Back the HP 15C

Education

B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Southern California, 1969
- 2nd biggest university robotics program in the world!
- 2005 NCAA Football Division I-A National Champs!! (yeah, I know...losers in 2006)
- Little-known fact: O.J. Simpson (same class as I) was briefly a world-record holder in 1968 when the USC 440-yard relay team ran a 38.6 (O.J. ran the third leg...he ran track to stay in shape for football)
M.S. Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1970.
- 1970-71 Rose Bowl winners w/Jim Plunkett at QB
- Perennial winners of the Director's Cup (what's that?)
- Little-known fact: Stanford students were/are rich-kid conservatives at heart; tried (but failed) to be activists like Berkeley students. Also, the "radical-ness" of a campus is directly proportional to the number of free-roaming dogs.
Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1978.
- Dissertation title: A Comparison of Control Modes in Time-Delayed Remote Manipulation
- Adviser: Bernard Roth
- Little-known fact: Bernie Roth is a super-nice guy; I "lucked out" by being picked up by Bernie after I finished my coursework, and hence didn't take the dreadful Bernie-mandated course on "Mathematical Methods in Physics"...

Class Information for Fall 2008

The classes I'm teaching during Spring 2009 are ME 314 (Design of Machinery), and ME 481/581, Digital Control.

The links below lead to pages with information for those classes...

I put the stuff below in just for general interest... no class credit! ;-)

Motorcycle Engine Extra credit (not much, though) if you can tell me what this engine is... here's another pic
If you want to produce beautiful mathematical documents, you have to use LaTeX. If you're a Mac user like me, the beautiful TeXShop package from Dick Koch is a must have.
Here is a zipped LaTeX example if you want to see what's involved...not for the faint of heart, but don't despair!

Interests and Activities

Dr. Greg's 2008 Tour de Texas in which I spend the 2008 Spring Break traveling from Albuquerque down to the Guadalupe Mountains (highest point in Texas), then Big Bend, the onward to the "Hill Country Paradise" and all the way to Houston. Ostensibly to visit my oldest son Paul. It was fun.
Motorcycle Trip to Orlando, FL in which former student David Wilson and I ride from New Mexico to Florida and back during May 2006. It was fun, too.
Teaching Interests My teaching interests lie mainly in the area of dynamic systems, control, robotics (including the Lego variety), and microcontrollers, look here for details...
Research Activities I'm involved in several projects in the areas of robotics and dynamic systems and controls, including active structures, open-architecture robot controllers, flexible robots, input preshaping, etc. Look here for details.
Lego Robots NEW! Movie clip from 2001 contest Look here to find out about the Mechanical Engineering department's coolest class...at least in my humble opinion. :-)
Recumbent Bicycles I've been a "serious" (don't really like that term) cyclist for over 30 years, but I just got this new recumbent. It's a little different, but I sure do like it.
Motorcycles and other hobbies It all started when Duke traded a pickup for this 650 Triumph in 1958... the rest is history. See all the Starr road bikes and dirt bikes (ask me about the Buell Ulysses)... as to the other hobbies, you'll have to look.
Ever wonder why nerds are unpopular? Being a nerd myself, I found this essay to be quite interesting. Other essays by Paul Graham are also worth a read. And while I'm on that subject, my wife married a nerd, or "geek" as we're sometimes called. Ever wonder why Geeks Make the Best Husbands ?
Newsflash! I got a HelmetCamera for an anniversary present (thanks, Annie!) and here's a short VIDEO of a ride in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico.

Graduate School

Since I used to be the Graduate Adviser, you can go to the Graduate Program from my home page. If you're interested in graduate study, this is the place to find more information. To get information mailed to you, fill out the form on that page... somebody will contact you.

My favorite National Anthem of all time...

Click the UNM logo to go to the University of New Mexico home page...

Click the (admittedly pretty ugly) mail icon to send me some email...