Eric Lepowsky received his PhD from Princeton University in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in May 2024. While at Princeton, he was a fellow of the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification. Eric’s dissertation focused on developing novel verification techniques which preserve the thoroughness of onsite inspections while reducing intrusiveness. Prior to joining the Program on Science and Global Security, he graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Mathematics. Eric previously researched biotechnology, including microfluidics, 3D printing, and point-of-care diagnostics, before interning at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, which sparked his interest in applied physics, emerging technologies, and applications in security. After Princeton, Eric joined MIT Lincoln Laboratory as Technical Staff.
Research Interests
Motivated by the challenges posed by potential future international agreements, Eric’s doctoral dissertation explored various radiation detection techniques for verification under increasingly strict access constraints, ranging from current-day arms control to a conceptual extreme. For minimal access to treaty-accountable items, he contributed to the development and demonstration of an inspection protocol and prototype device for confirming the absence of nuclear warheads via passive and transmission gamma ray measurements, including participation in an international verification experiment. Broadening the constraint, minimal inspector access to sensitive sites was enabled by considering the application of robotics to nuclear safeguards and arms control verification. This line of research entailed the characterization, modeling, and control of mobile neutron detectors for performing radiation measurements in support of various verification tasks. This study included neutronics calculations and the implementation of search algorithms for source localization, absence confirmation, and neutron field template matching. The culmination of Eric’s dissertation research, in collaboration with Princeton’s Intelligent Robot Motion Lab, was the development and demonstration of a privacy-preserving and map-free approach for robotic inspections to achieve minimal access to and storage of sensitive information.
Publications
Peer-reviewed articles
Eric Lepowsky, Manuel Kreutle, Christoph Wirz, Alexander Glaser, “Ceci N’est Pas Une Bombe: Lessons from a Field Experiment Using Neutron and Gamma Measurements to Confirm the Absence of Nuclear Weapons,” Science & Global Security, 2023.
Eric Lepowsky, Moritz Kütt, Soha Aslam, Henry Fetsch, Steven Snell, Alexander Glaser, Robert J Goldston, “Experimental Demonstration and Modeling of a Robotic Neutron Detector with Spectral and Directional Sensitivity for Treaty Verification,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, 2022.
Eric Lepowsky, Jihye Jeon, Alexander Glaser, “Confirming the absence of nuclear warheads via passive gamma-ray measurements,” Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, 2021.
Bekir Yenilmez, Mikail Temirel, Stephanie Knowlton, Eric Lepowsky, Savas Tasoglu, “Development and Characterization of a Low-Cost 3D Bioprinter,” Bioprinting, 2019.
Eric Lepowsky, Reza Amin, Savas Tasoglu, “Assessing the Reusability of 3D-Printed Photopolymer Microfluidic Chips for Urine Processing,” Micromachines, 2018.
Eric Lepowsky, Metin Muradoglu, Savas Tasoglu, “Towards Preserving Post-Printing Cell Viability and Improving the Resolution: Past, Present, and Future of 3D Bioprinting Theory,” Bioprinting, 2018.
Eric Lepowsky, Savas Tasoglu, “Emerging Anti-Fouling Methods: Towards Reusability of 3D-Printed Devices for Biomedical Applications,” Micromachines, 2018.
Eric Lepowsky, Savas Tasoglu, “3D Printing for Drug Manufacturing: A Perspective on the Future of Pharmaceuticals,” International Journal of Bioprinting, 2018.
Eric Lepowsky, Fariba Ghaderinezhad, Stephanie Knowlton, Savas Tasoglu, “Paper-Based Assays for Urine Analysis,” Biomicrofluidics, 2017.
Reza Amin, Fariba Ghaderinezhad, Lu Li, Eric Lepowsky, Bekir Yenilmez, Stephanie Knowlton, Savas Tasoglu, “A Continuous-Ink, Multiplexed-Pen Plotter Approach for Low-Cost, High-Throughput Fabrication of Paper-Based Microfluidics,” Analytical Chemistry, 2017.
Conference proceedings
Eric Lepowsky, David Snyder, “Realizable Deployment of Limited-Knowledge Robotic Inspectors for Nuclear Verification,” IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Workshop on Bridging the Lab-to-Real Gap: Conversations with Academia, Industry, and Government, June 2023.
Eric Lepowsky, Alexander Glaser, Robert J Goldston, “Robotic Neutron Detection for Bayesian Source Localization, Absence Confirmation, and Template Matching,” INMM & ESARDA Joint Annual Meeting, May 2023.
Eric Lepowsky, Manuel Kreutle, Christoph Wirz, Alexander Glaser, “Confirming the Absence of Nuclear Weapons: Neutron and Gamma Measurements During a Verification Exercise in Switzerland,” INMM & ESARDA Joint Annual Meeting, May 2023.
Eric Lepowsky, Jihye Jeon, Alexander Glaser, “Inspection System to Confirm the Absence of Nuclear Warheads Using Passive Gamma-Ray Measurements,” Uppsala University, Alva Myrdal Centre for Nuclear Disarmament First Annual Conference, October 2022.
Eric Lepowsky, Alexander Glaser, Robert J Goldston, Moritz Kütt, “Toward Autonomous Robotic Inspections of Nuclear Facilities Using Directionally-Sensitive Neutron Detectors,” INMM & ESARDA Joint Annual Meeting, August 2021.
Eric Lepowsky, Jihye Jeon, Alexander Glaser, “The Absent-Minded Inspector: Confirming the Absence of Nuclear Warheads via Passive Gamma-Ray Measurements,” INMM & ESARDA Joint Annual Meeting, August 2021.
Additional reports
Eric Lepowsky, David Snyder, Alexander Glaser, Anirudha Majumdar, “Privacy-Preserving Map-Free Exploration for Confirming the Absence of a Radioactive Source,” arXiv:2402.17130 [cs.RO], 2024.
Eric Lepowsky, Manuel Kreutle, Christoph Wirz, Alexander Glaser, “Radiation Measurements,” Chapter 4 in Pavel Podvig (ed.), Menzingen Verification Experiment: Verifying the Absence of Nuclear Weapons in the Field, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Verification (UNIDIR), Geneva, Switzerland, July 2023.
Talks
Pushing the Bounds of Minimal-Access Robotic Inspections with Privacy-Preserving Absence Confirmation, Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) Workshop, March 2024.
Nuclear Verification Techniques with Minimal Access to Items, Sites, and Information, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, October 2023.
Template Matching via Bayesian Filtering with a Directionally Sensitive Mobile Neutron Detector, University Program Review (UPR) Meeting, June 2023.
Toward a Robotic Multi-Tool for Neutron Measurements in Support of Remote Inspections, Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) Workshop, March 2023.
Exploring Applications of the N-SpecDir Bot for Remote Inspections, Princeton University, Program on Science and Global Security Seminar, November 2022.
Remote and Virtual Inspections: An Update on Princeton’s Work on Nuclear Verification (with Alexander Glaser), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, October 2022.
Robotic Inspections in Support of Nuclear Verification, University Program Review (UPR) Meeting, June 2022.
N-SpecDir Bot: A Neutron-detecting, Spectrally and Directionally Sensitive Robot for Nuclear Verification, Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) Workshop, March 2022.
Moving in a Neu(tron’s) Direction: Toward Autonomous Robotic Inspections of Nuclear Facilities, Princeton University, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Research Day, September 2021.
Prototype of an Inspection System to Confirm the Absence of Nuclear Warheads Using Passive Gamma-Ray Measurements, University Program Review (UPR) Meeting, September 2021.
No Access, No Data, No Problem: Toward Autonomous Robotic Inspections of Nuclear Facilities, Consortium for Monitoring, Technology, and Verification (MTV) Workshop, March 2021.