Welcome to my UH office in POST 524B (2023)

Holding my magnetic spacecraft

Holding my magnetic spacecraft (2018)

Observing and taking notes during microgravity experiment, as seen in NASA press release

Observing and taking notes during microgravity experiment, as seen in NASA press release (2018)

In the Hawaii Space Flight Lab cleanroom Attitude Determination Control and Sensing Facility with the amazing Lloyd French behind me (2020)

Frankie is a tenure-track assistant professor at the Colorado School of Mines in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, specializing in space robotics.

My research interests are dynamics, controls, systems engineering, and machine learning for space applications. I strive to explore and learn about our universe through and beside intelligent robotic systems. 

I received my Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering in 2014, my Master of Science in aerospace engineering in 2017, and received my PhD in aerospace engineering in 2019 all at Cornell University. From 2020 to 2024, I was an assistant researcher at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the Space Systems field.

Interested in collaborating or joining the lab? Email me at frankie.zhu (at) mines.edu

Interested in hiring me for a consulting gig? Also email me at frankie.zhu (at) mines.edu

Posting with my AXEL rover friend in the extreme robotics lab at NASA JPL

Posting with my AXEL rover friend in the extreme robotics lab at NASA JPL (2020)

Testing the camera tracking system in experiment testbed

Testing the camera tracking system in experiment testbed (2017)

Talking to the acting administrator of NASA, Rob Lightfoot, at NASA Technology Day at the Hill 2017

Talking to the acting administrator of NASA, Rob Lightfoot, at NASA Technology Day at the Hill (2017)