Our People
Dr. Edward Tunstel
Dr. Edward Tunstel joined APL in September 2007 as a member of the Senior Professional Staff in the Space Department, where he is working as the Space Robotics and Autonomous Control Lead. Before joining APL, Tunstel was a Senior Robotics Engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and worked on developing autonomous control and navigation algorithms, software, and systems for robotics research and spaceflight projects.
Tunstel worked on the NASA Mars Exploration Rovers mission as a flight systems engineer for autonomous rover navigation and was the mobility and robotic arm subsystem lead for surface mission operations.
Dr. Tunstel earned B.S. and M.E. degrees in mechanical engineering from Howard University in 1986 and 1989, respectively, and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of New Mexico in 1996. He has authored over 120 refereed journal articles, book chapters, and conference publications, and he has also co-edited four books.