Briana Lowe Wellman

About

Briana Lowe Wellman is a computer scientist whose research bridges multi-robot coordination and inclusive computer science education. Her work in multi-robot systems focuses on overcoming communication limitations in exploration and disaster relief scenarios, where she has developed novel approaches using rendezvous strategies and bio-inspired observation-based cooperation to enable fault-tolerant coverage. With over 100 citations across her most-cited papers, her contributions to understanding interference in real robot experiments and improving simulation accuracy for predicting multi-robot performance have advanced the field's practical applications. Notably, her paper "Using rendezvous to overcome communication limitations in multirobot exploration" (23 citations) remains a foundational reference for cooperative robotics under constrained conditions. Equally impactful is her work in broadening participation in computing, where she created the PREOP (Providing Robotic Experiences Through Object-Based Programming) framework—a syntax-free, object-based approach that uses robotics to increase retention and interest among first-year students, particularly underrepresented groups. Her research on affecting attitudes in first-year computer science (20 citations) demonstrates how accessible robotics programming can transform student perceptions of their own ability, directly addressing persistent attrition challenges in CS education.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Using rendezvous to overcome communication limitations in multirobot exploration

   23 citations · 2011
2. 2
   Affecting attitudes in first-year computer science using syntaxfree robotics programming

   20 citations · 2011
3. 3
   Alice and robotics in introductory CS courses

   20 citations · 2009
4. 4
   Using simulation to predict multi-robot performance on coverage tasks

   10 citations · 2010
5. 5
   Coordinating Robot Teams for Disaster Relief

   9 citations · 2015
6. 6
   PREOP as a tool to increase student retention in CS

   8 citations · 2009
7. 7
   Providing robotic experiences through object-based programming (PREOP)

   7 citations · 2009
8. 8
   Observation-based cooperation in mobile sensor networks: A bio-inspired approach for fault tolerant coverage

   5 citations · 2010
9. 9
   Categorizing interference in real robot experiments

   2 citations · 2011
10. 10
    Identification of Issues in Predicting Multi-Robot Performance through Model-Based Simulations

    2 citations · 2011

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links