Katrina M. Legursky

Katrina is a 2008-2012 Self Fellow pursuing a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering. She received a B.S. (2008) in physics and astronomy with minors in mathematics and art from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. While a student at Benedictine, Katrina was captain of the women's rugby team, was president of the physics and astronomy club, and was on both the dean's list and president's list multiple semesters. Her research experience includes small telescope CCD observations at Benedictine, cryongenic dark matter research at the University of Minnesota, and research with KU's Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets. Katrina is an avid sailor and also a private pilot. Her research interests are stability and control of ocean-going sailing yachts, with an emphasis on applying system identification techniques to accurately model yacht dynamics. Her doctoral research at KU is a beginning effort toward improved controller design for autonomous sail-powered surface vessels. She hopes to continue this research in an academic setting in the future.

Mentor: Richard Hale, Associate Professor; and Shahriar Keshmiri, Aerospace Engineering