Welcome

I have now completed my Ph.D. in Dynamic Systems, Control, and Robotics in the Department of Mechanical and Environmental Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB).

If you are curious in control research, you can learn more about what is going on in the Center for Control Engineering and Computation in College of Engineering.

My Story I was born in a small village in the countryside of Sweden in 1969, the same year that man first landed on the Moon. This is where I grew up (well, not on the moon) together with my three siblings and my parents. I had a great time, but life must go on. By the time I graduated from high school it was time for me to do the mandatory military service. For 13 months I was in the Royal Swedish Coast Artillery in a training program where I learned more about myself and about group psychology than I will ever learn from reading a book.

When I graduated from the military service I was 20 years old. I wanted to study at the university, but first I wanted to get some "real life" experience, as well as earn some money for that matter. Therefore I took a year off from studying to work. I had a few different jobs, some more interesting than others, but I don't regret a single one of them.

In the end of August of 1990 I took my first trembling steps on the campus of Lund Institute of Technology at the University of Lund. To make a long story short, I received my Masters degree in Engineering Physics in June of 1995.

Following my graduation I got the opportunity from the University of Lund to go to UCSB on a grant. When I first came to UCSB (photo), I was supposed to stay for only one year, but to anyone who has visited Santa Barbara or UCSB it is to no surprise that I decided to stay. It is beautiful here, and one can have a really enjoyable time in this resort of sunshine, mountains, beaches, and ocean. If you will visit UCSB you may need a map of UCSB.

Niklas Karlsson, March 14, 2002 (niklas@engineering.ucsb.edu).