P. S. Krishnaprasad

University of Maryland , College Park Campus

Mailing Address:
P. S. Krishnaprasad
Institute For Systems Research &
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Room 2233, A.V. Williams Bldg (bldg # 115)
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-3285
Campus Map: to reach my office (click on area marked NE)
Contact Numbers:
Office: AVW 2233
Tel. 301-405-6843
Fax. 301-314-9920
Email: krishna AT isr DOT umd DOT edu

Short Biography and Research Interests

P. S. Krishnaprasad received his Ph.D. degree from Harvard University in 1977. He was on the faculty of the Systems Engineering Department at Case Western Reserve University from 1977 to 1980. He has been with the University of Maryland since August 1980, where he has held the position of Professor of Electrical Engineering since 1987, and a joint appointment with the Institute for Systems Research since 1988. He is also a member of the Applied Mathematics Faculty.

Krishnaprasad has held visiting positions with Erasmus University (Rotterdam); the Department of Mathematics, University of California, Berkeley; the University of Groningen (the Netherlands); the Mathematical Sciences Institute at Cornell University; and the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at Princeton University.

Krishnaprasad's research interests lie in the broad area of geometric control theory and its applications. His contributions include geometry of parametrization problems in linear systems, the Lie algebraic foundations of certain nonlinear filtering problems pertaining to system identification, the Lie theory and stability of interconnected mechanical systems (e.g., spacecraft with elastic attachments, spinning rotors, and fluid-filled cavities), and symmetry principles in nonlinear control theory. He has also investigated mathematical problems in the kinematics and control of robot manipulators, the real-time control of flexible robot arms with end-point sensing, tactile perception, and the development of symbolic algebraic tools for design and control. In the last several years, his interests have drawn him to: problems of modeling, design, motion planning and control, arising in mobile robotics (legged and wheeled vehicles, autonomous underwater vehicles and autonomous aircraft); geometric methods in nonlinear dynamics; wavelet analysis for signals and systems; intelligent control architectures, in part inspired by biological paradigms such as central patterns generators and neural networks; the technology and theory of smart materials such as piezo-electric and magnetostrictive materials for use in actuation and sensing; problems of integration of actuators and sensors in control networks; and modeling, simulation, monitoring and control in semiconductor manufacturing processes, such as rapid thermal chemical vapor deposition.

A central interest in geometric control theory, geometric mechanics, Lie groups, and distributed parameter systems, guides the technical approaches taken to attack problems in the above areas. Additionally, some of this work is also linked to the experimental efforts in the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory.

P. S. Krishnaprasad was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 1990 for his contributions to geometric and nonlinear control and engineering education. He was appointed a 1998-2000 Distinguished Faculty Research Fellow of the University of Maryland. He was a member of a team recognized by American Helicopter Society's Grover E. Bell Award (2002) (for work on smart structures during 1991-96) bestowed on the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Research Center. He was the Munich Mathematical Colloquium Lecturer (October 24, 2006). He is the recepient of the 2007 Hendrik W. Bode Lecture Prize of the IEEE Control Systems Society, for distinguished contributions to control systems science and engineering. He will deliver the Bode lecture at the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, on December 14, 2007.

List of some recent publications of the Intelligent Servosystems Laboratory

A volume of expository lectures on Motion, Control and Geometry (with on-line readable text)

Two volumes of papers on Mechanics

List of Publications (as of May 2005)

ISR archive of papers available on-line (by year and author/topic keyword search)

List of Ph.D. Students (as of May 2005)

List of Selected Lectures (as of March 2004)

Teaching Assignments

Control and Dynamical Systems Lecture Series at the Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, College Park. College Park Campus

Robotics and Controls Related Sites of Interest

This page last updated, March 2004