Richard D. Braatz
Encyclopedia
Richard D. Braatz is the Edwin R. Gilliland
Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
known for his research in control theory and its applications to chemical, pharmaceutical, and materials systems. He has received many honors including the Hertz Foundation
Thesis Prize, the Donald P. Eckman Award
from the American Automatic Control Council
, the Curtis W. McGraw Research Award from the Engineering Research Council, and the Antonio Ruberti
Young Researcher Prize from the Antonio Ruberti Foundation and IEEE Control Systems Society
. Professor Braatz is a Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control
, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
, and American Association for the Advancement of Science
.
Professor Braatz graduated from Oregon State University
with a B.S. in 1988 with an undergraduate thesis on heat exchanger design supervised by Octave Levenspiel
. He worked at Chevron Research and Avery Dennison
before receiving his M.S. and Ph.D. in robust control
from the California Institute of Technology
under the direction of Professor Manfred Morari
. His thesis included a proof that robust control problems are NP-hard
. After a postdoctoral year at DuPont
, he moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
where he rose to the position of Millennium Chair and Professor, with positions in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Science and Engineering, Bioengineering, Applied Mathematics, and Computational Science and Engineering. Professor Braatz made contributions in the areas of robust optimal control, fault detection and diagnosis
, sheet and film processes, and crystallization. After serving as a Visiting Scholar for a year at Harvard University
, he moved to MIT in 2010 where he continues research in systems and control theory and its applications.
Edwin R. Gilliland
Edwin Richard Gilliland was an American chemical engineer and Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Gilliland was born on July 10, 1909 in El Reno, Oklahoma and moved with his family to Little Rock, Arkansas in 1918. He graduated from the University of Illinois at...
Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
known for his research in control theory and its applications to chemical, pharmaceutical, and materials systems. He has received many honors including the Hertz Foundation
Hertz Foundation
The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation is an American non-profit organization that awards fellowships to Ph.D. students in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences. It is considered to be the most competitive and prestigious graduate fellowship in science and engineering. The...
Thesis Prize, the Donald P. Eckman Award
Donald P. Eckman Award
The Donald P. Eckman Award is an award given by the American Automatic Control Council recognizing outstanding achievements by a young researcher under the age of 35 in the field of control theory. Together with the Richard E...
from the American Automatic Control Council
American Automatic Control Council
The American Automatic Control Council is an organization founded in 1956 for research in control theory. It is an association of the control systems divisions of eight member societies and a member of the International Federation of Automatic Control....
, the Curtis W. McGraw Research Award from the Engineering Research Council, and the Antonio Ruberti
Antonio Ruberti
Antonio Ruberti was an Italian politician and engineer. He was a member of the Italian Government and a European Commissioner as well as a Professor of engineering at La Sapienza University.-Biography:...
Young Researcher Prize from the Antonio Ruberti Foundation and IEEE Control Systems Society
IEEE Control Systems Society
IEEE Control Systems Society is an organizational unit of the IEEE. It was founded in 1954 and is dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practice of systems and control in engineering.-History:...
. Professor Braatz is a Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control
International Federation of Automatic Control
The International Federation of Automatic Control , founded in September 1957, is a multinational federation of , each one representing the engineering and scientific societies concerned with automatic control in its own country.The aim of the Federation is to promote the science and technology of...
, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence...
, and American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
.
Professor Braatz graduated from Oregon State University
Oregon State University
Oregon State University is a coeducational, public research university located in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. The university offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees and a multitude of research opportunities. There are more than 200 academic degree programs offered through the...
with a B.S. in 1988 with an undergraduate thesis on heat exchanger design supervised by Octave Levenspiel
Octave Levenspiel
Octave Levenspiel is an Emeritus professor of chemical engineering at Oregon State University. His principal interest has been chemical reaction engineering, a branch of chemical engineering studying the application of chemical reaction kinetics and physics to the design of chemical reactors.He...
. He worked at Chevron Research and Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison Corporation is a global manufacturer and distributor of pressure sensitive adhesive materials , office products, and various paper products....
before receiving his M.S. and Ph.D. in robust control
Robust control
Robust control is a branch of control theory that explicitly deals with uncertainty in its approach to controller design. Robust control methods are designed to function properly so long as uncertain parameters or disturbances are within some set...
from the California Institute of Technology
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Pasadena, California, United States. Caltech has six academic divisions with strong emphases on science and engineering...
under the direction of Professor Manfred Morari
Manfred Morari
Manfred Morari is a Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1977. Dr. Morari held positions at the University of Wisconsin, Madison from 1977–1983 and the California Institute of...
. His thesis included a proof that robust control problems are NP-hard
NP-hard
NP-hard , in computational complexity theory, is a class of problems that are, informally, "at least as hard as the hardest problems in NP". A problem H is NP-hard if and only if there is an NP-complete problem L that is polynomial time Turing-reducible to H...
. After a postdoctoral year at DuPont
DuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
, he moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
where he rose to the position of Millennium Chair and Professor, with positions in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Science and Engineering, Bioengineering, Applied Mathematics, and Computational Science and Engineering. Professor Braatz made contributions in the areas of robust optimal control, fault detection and diagnosis
, sheet and film processes, and crystallization. After serving as a Visiting Scholar for a year at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, he moved to MIT in 2010 where he continues research in systems and control theory and its applications.