Prajwal Koirala

I am a Ph.D. student in Robotics at Cornell University, advised by Professor Mark Campbell. My research focuses on learning and estimation for robotics, with an emphasis on developing intelligent, reliable robotic systems that operate safely in uncertain and dynamic environments. I am particularly interested in integrating machine learning with principled models for perception, decision-making, and control to improve robustness, safety, and real-world generalization.

Before joining Cornell, I received my MS from Iowa State University, where I worked on reinforcement learning and safety-critical control for autonomous systems under the guidance of Dr. Cody Fleming and in frequent collaboration with Dr. Soumik Sarkar. My research included developing offline reinforcement learning algorithms that integrate safety constraints into data-driven decision-making, resulting in publications at leading conferences in machine learning, robotics, and controls (ICLR, CoRL, CDC, among others). I also gained teaching experience as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, conducting lab sessions in system dynamics and control and received multiple Research Excellence Awards for my contributions during my time at Iowa State.