Rogelio Gracia
Otalvaro
Visiting Assistant Professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Ph.D. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. I keep critical infrastructure and complex systems more resilient through bifurcation analysis, machine learning, and mathematical modeling.
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About
What I do
I work on resilience engineering, machine learning, and complex systems analysis at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. My research focuses on understanding why critical infrastructure fails under stress and developing methods to prevent it. I've secured over $86K in research funding, published 6+ peer-reviewed papers at venues like INCOSE, ASME, and AIAA, and I teach courses in signals and systems, optimization, and digital communications.
Beyond academia, I consult with organizations and advise decision-makers in aerospace, energy, and public infrastructure, translating resilience research into strategies leaders can act on under uncertainty.
Read the full story →Research
Recent work
My research applies bifurcation theory, ecological network analysis, and reinforcement learning to problems in infrastructure resilience and autonomous systems.
Adapting open-source tools for multi-stakeholder infrastructure resilience assessment.
A bifurcation-based diagnostic framework that quantifies system resilience across absorption, adaptation, and recovery phases.
Soft actor-critic approach for autonomous multi-drone 3D terrain scanning and target detection.
Software
Tools I build
I build open-source tools so my research methods are usable beyond the paper. TENSA is my web workbench for power system simulation: build a grid visually, run power flow, time-domain, and eigenvalue studies with one click, and drive the whole thing from an API that scripts and AI agents can call.
An AI agent builds the WSCC 9-bus system through the real UI, then runs every analysis
An interactive workbench built on the ANDES simulator. React 19 and TypeScript frontend, FastAPI backend with per-session subprocess workers, and results that stream live as Apache Arrow frames over WebSocket. Ships on PyPI with a CLI, a documented OpenAPI schema, an llms.txt API map, and an MCP server, so an assistant like Claude can run simulations directly.
Grants & Awards
Funded research
Over $86K secured across five grants and fellowships to advance resilience research, support conference travel, and fund lab infrastructure.
Teaching
In the classroom
Currently teaching three courses at Embry-Riddle as Visiting Assistant Professor. Previously a GTA for four years, where I designed two new graduate courses and received a 3.86/4.0 teaching effectiveness rating.
Global reach
15 countries and counting
Research presented on four continents, professional experience across Europe and the Americas, PADI Divemaster with 400+ dives worldwide. Click any marker for details.
Experience
Career so far
- Teaching signals & systems, optimization, digital communications
- Research in resilience engineering, multi-agent RL, LLM fine-tuning
- Led ML initiatives in the BID4R lab across multiple research teams
- Multiple funded projects across resilience engineering and autonomous systems
- Taught 150+ students; 3.86/4.0 effectiveness rating
- Built quantitative models for portfolio optimization and risk assessment
- Automated reporting pipelines in Python and SQL for investment teams
- Led cross-functional initiatives across operations, IT, and facilities
- Drove process redesign and KPI tracking across 180+ healthcare facilities
Skills
Get in touch
Interested in collaborating or have questions about my research? I'd be happy to hear from you.