IEEE Fellow, Prof. Derong Liu, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA / Guangdong University of Technology, China

Speech: Using AI and Machine Learning Tools to Solve Optimal Control Problems (Click here for abstract)

Biography: Derong Liu received the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1994. He was a Staff Fellow with General Motors Research and Development Center, from 1993 to 1995. He was an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology, from 1995 to 1999. He joined the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1999, and became a Full Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of Computer Science in 2006. He was selected for the “100 Talents Program” by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2008, and he served as the Associate Director of The State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems at the Institute of Automation, from 2010 to 2015. He is now a Full Professor with the School of Automation, Guangdong University of Technology. He has published 19 books. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Artificial Intelligence Review (Springer). He was the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems from 2010 to 2015. He received the Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation in 1999, the University Scholar Award from University of Illinois from 2006 to 2009, the Overseas Outstanding Young Scholar Award from the National Natural Science Foundation of China in 2008, and the Outstanding Achievement Award from Asia Pacific Neural Network Assembly in 2014. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the International Neural Network Society, and a Fellow of the International Association of Pattern Recognition.

 

Prof. Youmin Zhang, Concordia University, Canada

Biography: Professor Youmin Zhang received the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China, in 1983, 1986, and 1995, respectively. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering and the Concordia Institute of Aerospace Design and Innovation, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

His current research interests include condition monitoring, health management, Fault Detection and Diagnosis (FDD), and Fault-Tolerant Control Systems (FTCS), cooperative Guidance, Navigation, and Control (GNC) of single and multiple unmanned aerial/space/ground/surface vehicles and their applications to forest fires, pipelines, power lines, environment, natural resources and natural disasters monitoring, detection, and protection by combining with remote sensing techniques; dynamic systems modeling, estimation, identification, advanced control techniques and signal processing techniques for diagnosis, prognosis, and health management of safety-critical systems, renewable energy systems and smart grids, and intelligent manufacturing processes. He has authored 4 books, over 460 journal and conference papers, and book chapters.

He is a Fellow of Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineering (CSME), a Senior Member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and a member of the Technical Committee (TC) for several scientific societies, including the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) Technical Committee on Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety for Technical Processes, the AIAA Infotech@Aerospace Program Committee on Unmanned Systems, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society TC on Aerial Robotics and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, the ASME/IEEE TC on Mechatronics and Embedded Systems and Applications, and the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) Association Executive Committee. He has been invited to deliver plenary and tutorial talks at international conferences/workshops and research seminars worldwide for over 90 times. He is a founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Instrumentation, Automation and Systems, an Editor-at-Large of the Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, and an Editorial Board Member/Associate Editor of several other international journals (including three newly launched journals on Unmanned Systems). He has served as General Chair, Program Chair, Program Vice Chair, and IPC Member of many international conferences, including the General Chair of the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Unmanned Systems (ICIUS) in 2014, Montreal, Canada, Program Chair of the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS) in 2014, Orlando, FL, USA, one of General Chairs of the ICUAS in 2015, Denver, USA, a Co-General Chair of the ICIUS 2016 to be held at Xian, China, Program Chair of the ICUAS 2017 held at Miami, USA, a General Co-Chair of the 2nd Int. Symp. on Autonomous Systems (ISAS’18), Chongqing, May 19-21, 2018, and General Chair of the ICUAS 2018 to held at Dallas, USA in June 12-15, 2018. More detailed information can be found at http://users.encs.concordia.ca/~ymzhang/.

Prof. Andrew Ragai Henry Rigit, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia

Biography: Professor Andrew Ragai Henry Rigit received his B.Eng. (Mechanical) from The City University, London, U.K. in 1995, M.Eng. (Mechanical) from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak in 1997, and Ph.D (Fluid Dynamics) from Imperial College London, U.K. in 2004. His doctoral study was in the field of charge injection electrostatic fuel atomizer and its spray characteristics. He is a practicing professional engineer registered with the Board of Engineers, Malaysia.

Prof. Christos Spitas, Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan

Biography: Prof. Dr. Christos Spitas is professor of Machine Design at Nazarbayev University, leader of the Space Technology Research cluster and head of the Machine Design laboratory in Astana, Kazakstan. During the past 18 years, also in his previous positions as professor of Embodiment Design and head of the Product Engineering section at Delft University of Technology and as manager R&D in the high-tech industry, he has developed with his teams a number of technologies on compact, high load capacity, high efficiency, high accuracy mechatronic systems based on multiphysical principles of mechnical contacts and mechanisms, hydraulics, piezoelectricity, and thermal expansion/ morphing. These principles are combined with composite and smart meta-material topologies, incl. particle- and directional-fibre-reinforced and graded polymer- and metal-matrix composites, flat and spatial honeycombs, and frequency-tuned damping-, strength- and stiffness-optimised structures. The primary fields of application have been space satellites, precision machines, mechanical transmissions, machine foundations and alignment systems, and robotics, in the context of several JIPs, as well as national and EU-funded projects with partners such as CERN, ESA, Kazakh Space Agency, Toyota, Kawasaki, etc.