Michelle Sherman is a Ph.D. student in the Electrical Engineering Department and a Master’s student in the Mathematics Department at New Mexico Tech. She also received her B.S. degrees from NM Tech in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering with a minor in Optical Science and Engineering in May 2020.
For her Ph.D. work, Michelle joined Dr. Sihua Shao’s research group in Spring 2021. Her research and dissertation interests are in wireless networks, machine learning, deep learning, and reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). Her research focuses on the Deployment of Multi-UAV Wireless Networks with Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) Mounts and Recharging Scheduling Capability using Deep Reinforcement Learning Methods. In urban environments, tall buildings or structures can pose limitations on the direct wireless access between a base station (such as a cell tower) and an internet of things device (such as a cell phone on sensor node). Due to the high demand for connectivity, hardware costs, and latency requirements to enable the next generation “smart city” IoT applications, aerial platforms such as UAVs have been proposed to support current infrastructures with cost-effective solutions such as using a mounted reconfigurable intelligent surface instead of complex RF front end architectures. RIS devices are low power and lightweight and can enhance the system throughput capacity by acting as a relay node between the base station antenna and the IoTDs. Michelle’s research focuses on developing deep reinforcement learning algorithms to solve model-free optimization problems in the UAV-RIS assisted wireless network architecture shown in the figure below. She is currently designing an RIS device operable at mmWave frequencies for a small-scale testbed. Michelle has authored and co-authored several conference papers from IEEE MILCOM, AIAA SciTech, and AIAA Aviation.
In collaboration with her advisor, Dr. Gilberto González-Parra, Michelle will be completing her Master’s Thesis in the analysis of delay differential equations (DDEs) and the impact of delays in control systems, as uncompensated delays can degrade system performance.
Michelle has participated in many volunteer projects at NM Tech, in the Socorro community, and in her hometown of Santa Fe, NM. On campus, she volunteered for community service projects such as Mental Health Day, Career Fairs, Research at Tech Day, Science Fair, and Science Olympiad. Off campus, she has volunteered as a workshop presenter for NM STEM events such as Expanding Your Horizons Conference in Santa Fe, NM to increase young women's interest in math and science, the Julia Robinson Mathematics festival in Santa Fe, NM for 7th/8th graders from all around NM, and the Explora Science Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM. As a community volunteer, she assisted with registration and symptom monitoring at the Covid Vaccination Sites in Socorro, NM. This was one of her most heartfelt volunteer experiences. She was proud to be among the nurses, doctors, firefighters, and other volunteers to quickly distribute vaccinations to families and seniors who were so thankful to the volunteers.
