Michael A. Demetriou, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Biography: Michael A. Demetriou is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA. He served as an Associate Editor in the IEEE Tr. on Automatic Control (2004-2007), in the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control (2009-2011), and in SIAM J. Control and Optimization (2009-present). He is also serving in the IEEE-Control Systems Society Conference Editorial Board as an Associate Editor (1997-present). In 2003 he established the IEEE-CSS Technical Committee on Distributed Parameter Systems and served as his first chair (2003-2012). His research interests center around systems and controls: In particular theoretical and computational aspects of estimation and control for systems governed by partial differential equations; intelligent allocation and scheduling of actuators/sensors in distributed parameter systems; intrusion detection using mobile sensor and actuator networks; hybrid control of distributed parameter systems with switching/moving/scanning actuators & sensors; fault detection, diagnosis and accommodation of dynamical systems (lumped and distributed); adaptive estimation and control of finite and infinite dimensional systems; control of structural acoustic systems and fluid-structure interaction systems; active noise control; optimization in thermal manufacturing; damage detection and vibration control of flexible structures with intelligent sensors & actuators.

Fariba Fahroo, DARPA

Biography: Fariba Fahroo is a program manager at the Defense Sciences Office, and a former program manager at the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. While at AFOSR, she initiated and managed basic research programs in various areas of computational math and control theory such as multiscale modeling and computation, uncertainty quantification, design under uncertainty, distributed, multi-agent control and estimation, and computational control theory. Prior to her position at AFOSR, Dr. Fahroo was a professor of Applied Mathematics at the Naval Postgraduate School. She received Bachelor of Arts degrees in Mathematics and Physics from The University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Arts degree in Mathematics from The University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Applied Math from Brown University. In 2010, she received, the AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award for fundamental contributions to flight mechanics.

Massimo Franceschetti, University of California at San Diego

Biography: Massimo Franceschetti is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at San Diego (UCSD), La Jolla. Before joining UCSD, he was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley for two years. He has held visiting positions at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, and the University of Trento. His research interests are in com- munication systems theory and include random networks, wave propagation in random media, wireless communication, and control over networks. Dr. Franceschetti was an Associate Editor for Communication Networks of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY (2009–2012) and has served as Guest Editor for two issues of the IEEE JOURNAL ON SELECTED AREAS IN COMMUNICATION. He was awarded the C. H. Wilts Prize in 2003 for best doctoral thesis in electrical engineering at Caltech; the S.A. Schelkunoff Award in 2005 for best paper in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION; a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER award in 2006, an ONR Young Investigator Award in 2007; and the IEEE Communications Society Best Tutorial Paper Award in 2010.

Angelia Nedich, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Biography: Angelia Nedich received her B.S. degree from the University of Montenegro (1987) and M.S. degree from the University of Belgrade (1990), both in Mathematics. She received her Ph.D. degrees from Moscow State University (1994) in Mathematics and Mathematical Physics, and from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (2002). She has been at the BAE Systems Advanced Information Technology from 2002-2006. In Fall 2006, as Assistant Professor, she has joined the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA. Her general Interest is in optimization including fundamental theory, models, algorithms, and applications. Her current research interest is focused on large scale convex optimization, distributed multi-agent optimization, duality, theory with applications in decentralized optimization.

George Pappas, University of Pennsylvania

Biography: George J. Pappas is the Joseph Moore Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds a secondary appointment in the Departments of Computer and Information Sciences, and Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics. He is member of the GRASP Lab and the PRECISE Center. He has previously served as the Deputy Dean for Research in the School of Engineering and Applied Science. His research focuses on control theory and in particular, hybrid systems, embedded systems, hierarchical and distributed control systems, with applications to unmanned aerial vehicles, distributed robotics, green buildings, and biomolecular networks. He is a Fellow of IEEE, and has received various awards such as the Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize, the George S. Axelby Award, the O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award, and the National Science Foundation PECASE.