Prof. Elena Valcher, Prof. Maria Prandini and Prof. Kirsten Morris will give the following talks:

TALK 1:

Title: "Randomized methods for decision making in presence of uncertainty" by Prof. Maria Prandini

Abstract: In this talk we shall present some recent results on randomized methods for constrained control in presence of uncertainty affecting the system evolution. We shall show, in particular, how randomization allows to account for the uncertainty while making the design problem computationally feasible. An application to aircraft motion control will be presented. Extensions of randomized methods to distributed optimization will be finally discussed.

Short Bio: Maria received her laurea degree in Electrical Engineering (summa cum laude) from Politecnico di Milano (1994) and her Ph.D. degree in Information Technology from Università degli Studi di Brescia, Italy (1998). From 1998 to 2000 she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California at Berkeley. She also held visiting positions at Delft University of Technology (1998), Cambridge University (2000), University of California at Berkeley (2005), and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (2006). In 2002, she started as an assistant professor at Politecnico di Milano, where she is currently an associate professor. Her research interests include stochastic hybrid systems, randomized algorithms, constrained control, system abstraction and verification, distributed optimization, and the application of control theory to air traffic management and energy systems. She serves on the editorial board of Cyber Physical Systems, and previously of European Journal of Control, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology and Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems. She is a member of the IFAC Technical Committee on Discrete Event and Hybrid Systems, and the Conference Editorial Boards of IEEE Control Systems Society (CSS) and European Control Association (EUCA). From 2013 to 2105, she has been editor for Electronic Publications of the IEEE CSS, being, among other things, responsible for the E-Letter on Systems, Control, and Signal Processing. She is member of the IEEE CSS Board of Governors, and since January 2016 she is CSS Vice-President for Conference Activities.

TALK 2

Title: "An overview of some recent result on switched systems with positivity constraints" by Prof. Elena Valcher

Abstract: In this talk we consider continuous-time positive switched systems whose state trajectories are constrained to remain in the positive orthant, provided that their initial condition is nonnegative. These systems arise in a wide number of applications areas, including the HIV viral mutation problem, traffic congestions problems, controlled gene expression networks, thermal systems, etc. Practical problems related to these physical systems naturally find a mathematical formalization in terms of structural properties of the associated positive switched systems. In the talk we provide an overview of the most meaningful characterizations available for some of these structural properties.

Short Bio: Maria Elena Valcher received the Master Degree (cum laude) in Electronic Engineering (1991) and the Ph.D. Degree in Systems Engineering (1995) both from the University of Padova (Italy). Since January 2005 she is Full Professor of Control Theory at the University of Padova. She is author/co-author of 77 papers appeared on international journals, more than 90 conference papers and 14 book chapters. Her research interests include multidimensional systems theory, polynomial matrix theory, behavior theory, Boolean control networks, switched systems and positive systems. She was in the Editorial Boards of the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (2000-2003), Systems and Control Letters (2004-2010), Automatica (2006-2013), SIAM J. on Control and Optimization (2012-2014), and she is currently in the Editorial Boards of Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing (2004-today), the European Journal of Control (2013-today) and IEEE Access (2014-now). She held various positions within the IEEE Control Systems Society: Appointed BoG Member (2003); Elected BoG Member (2004-2006; 2010-2012); Vice President Member Activities (2006-2007); Vice President Conference Activities (2008-2010); President-Elect (2014); President (2015); Junior Past President (2016). She was a member of the 2013, 2014 and 2015 IEEE Control Systems Award committee and a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE CSS (2011-2014). She received the 2011 IEEE CSS Distinguished Member Award and she is an IEEE Fellow since 2012.

TALK 3

Title: "The role of sensors and actuators in distributed parameter systems" by Prof. Kirsten Morris

Abstract: The dynamics of many systems depend on the distribution of the system in space as well as in time. Examples include transmission lines, acoustic noise, structural vibrations. These systems are known as distributed parameter systems (DPS). For DPS systems there is generally choice of the type of actuator and sensors used and also of their locations. Once the control hardware, the actuators and sensors, are selected, performance depends on the location of the hardware. Integrating controller and estimator design with hardware location can lead to better performance without increased cost. Physical intuition does not always lead to the best choice of locations. Since it is often difficult to move hardware, and trial-and-error may not be effective when there are multiple sensors and actuators, analysis is crucial. Proper placement when there are disturbances present is in general different from that appropriate for reducing the response to an initial condition, and both are different from locations based on optimizing controllability or observability. The dependence of optimal location on the selected criterion is illustrated with several applications.

SHORT BIO: Prof. Kirsten Morris’ research interests are distributed parameter systems and also systems, such as smart materials, involving hysteresis. She has written an undergraduate textbook "Introduction to Feedback Control", and was editor of the book “Control of Flexible Structures”. Professor Morris is a member of the Applied Mathematics Department at the University of Waterloo and is cross-appointed to the Department of Mechanical & Mechatronics Engineering. From 2005-2008 she was Associate Dean for Graduate Studies & Research in the Faculty of Mathematics. She was an associate editor with the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control and also SIAM Journal on Control & Optimization and is a member of the editorial board of the SIAM book series Advances in Design & Control. Prof. Morris has served as a member of the IEEE Control System Society Board of Governors since 2010 and is currently vice-president, technical activities.