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Harsh Sharma

Harsh Sharma

Assistant Professor

The Sharma research group focuses on integrating first principles and domain-specific knowledge with machine learning/AI techniques for design, analysis, and control of complex and large-scale dynamical systems, with an emphasis on digital twins. The objective is to develop scientific machine learning techniques that can learn physically interpretable and robust dynamic models with improved training efficiency and generalizability while simultaneously ensuring the exact satisfaction of physical laws. Drawing on tools and concepts from computational science, dynamics and control, and machine learning, the group develops principled data-driven methods for diverse applications ranging from soft robotics and structural dynamics to astrodynamics and computational physics.
Before joining the University of Wisconsin–Madison, Dr. Sharma was a Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. He completed his PhD in Aerospace Engineering and his MS in Mathematics at Virginia Tech. He received his dual degree (BS + MS) in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology–Bombay.

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Contact

ME 2214, Mechanical Engineering Bldg
1513 University Ave
Madison, WI

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  • PhD 2020, Virginia Tech
  • MS (Non-thesis) 2020, Virginia Tech
  • B. Tech & M. Tech 2015, Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay

  • Scientific Machine Learning
  • Reduced-order Modeling
  • Computational Science and Engineering
  • Predictive Digital Twins for Mechanical/Aerospace Applications
  • Dynamical Systems Theory

  • 2023 SIAM CSE, Early Career Travel Award
  • 2019 Virginia Tech, John L. Pratt Fellowship
  • 2018 Virginia Tech, John L. Pratt Fellowship
  • 2016 Tau Beta Pi Honor Society, Member

  • Galioto, N., Sharma, H., Kramer, B., & Gorodetsky, A. A. (2024). Bayesian identification of nonseparable Hamiltonians with multiplicative noise using deep learning and reduced-order modeling. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 430, 117194.
  • Sharma, H., Adibnazari, I., Cervera-Torralba, J., Tolley, M. T., & Kramer, B. (2024). Data-driven Model Reduction for Soft Robots via Lagrangian Operator Inference. IFAC-PapersOnLine, 58(17), 91-96.
  • Sharma, H., Najera-Flores, D. A., Todd, M. D., & Kramer, B. (2024). Lagrangian operator inference enhanced with structure-preserving machine learning for nonintrusive model reduction of mechanical systems. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 423, 116865.
  • Sharma, H., & Kramer, B. (2024). Preserving Lagrangian structure in data-driven reduced-order modeling of large-scale dynamical systems. Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, 462, 134128.
  • Adibnazari, I., Sharma, H., Torralba, J. C., Kramer, B., & Tolley, M. T. (2023). Full-Body Optimal Control of a Swimming Soft Robot Enabled by Data-Driven Model Reduction. In 2023 Southern California Robotics Symposium.
  • Sharma, H., Mu, H., Buchfink, P., Geelen, R., Glas, S., & Kramer, B. (2023). Symplectic model reduction of Hamiltonian systems using data-driven quadratic manifolds. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 417, 116402.
  • Sharma, H., Wang, Z., & Kramer, B. (2022). Hamiltonian operator inference: Physics-preserving learning of reduced-order models for canonical Hamiltonian systems. Physica D: Nonlinear Phenomena, 431, 133122.
  • Sharma, H., Borggaard, J., Patil, M., & Woolsey, C. (2022). Performance assessment of energy-preserving, adaptive time-step variational integrators. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 114, 106646.
  • Sharma, H., Lee, T., Patil, M., & Woolsey, C. (2020). Symplectic Accelerated Optimization on SO (3) with Lie Group Variational Integrators. In 2020 American Control Conference (ACC) (p. 2826-2831).
  • Sharma, H., Patil, M., & Woolsey, C. (2020). A review of structure-preserving numerical methods for engineering applications. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 366, 113067.

  • EMA 202 - Dynamics (Fall 2025)