Mihailo R. Jovanovic
Associate Professor

  

Area of expertise: Modeling, dynamics and control of large-scale and distributed
systems

Education
Ph.D., ME, 2004, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, United States
M.S., ME, 1998, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia
Dipl. Ing., ME, 1995, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia

Contact information
Office: 5-157 Keller Hall
Telephone: (612) 625-7870
E-mail: mihailo (at) umn.edu
Personal Web Site: http://www.ece.umn.edu/~mihailo/

Honors/Awards
National Science Foundation CAREER Award, 2007
Finalist, Best Student Paper Award, 2007 American Control Conference, New York
       City, NY (as advisor)
Associate Editor of the IEEE Control Systems Society Conference Editorial Board,
       July 2006 - present
Outstanding Reviewer, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2005.

Synopsis
My primary research interests are in modeling, analysis, and control of large-scale and distributed dynamical systems. Such systems are ubiquitous in modern technology, as exemplified by the development of miniature transducers made of large arrays of actuators and sensors with the ability to interact with one another, power distribution systems, teams of robotic agents, formations of unmanned aerial vehicles, and arrays of micro-cantilevers for massively parallel data storage, to name just a few. I am interested in the development of theoretical methods for the analysis and design of these systems, and the application of these methods to important problems in physics and engineering. The greatest thrill I get from my research is when I succeed in using mathematical concepts from dynamical systems and control theory to understand and explain natural phenomena. This has enabled me to develop guidelines for the design of simpler, more efficient, and more reliable systems. During my research, I have also discovered that examining physical problems from different viewpoints often leads to new and exciting questions regarding analysis and control. My group is committed to conducting research in an interdisciplinary fashion, at the interface of mathematics, physics, dynamical systems, and control theory.

Selected publications
N. Hoda, M. R. Jovanovic, and S. Kumar, "Frequency responses of streamwise-constant perturbations in channel flows of Oldroyd-B fluids", J. Fluid Mech., 625, 411-434, April 2009.

M. R. Jovanovic, "Turbulence suppression in channel flows by small amplitude transverse wall oscillations", Phys. Fluids, 20, 014101, January 2008.

M. R. Jovanovic, M. Arcak, and E. D. Sontag, "A passivity-based approach to stability of spatially distributed systems with a cyclic interconnection structure", IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Part-I: Special Issue on Systems Biology, 55, 75-86, January 2008.

M. R. Jovanovic and B. Bamieh, "On the ill-posedness of certain vehicular platoon control problems", IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 50, 1307-1321, September 2005.

M. R. Jovanovic and B. Bamieh, "Componentwise energy amplification in channel flows", J. Fluid Mech., 534, 145-183, July 2005.