Research

University degrees

• Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, University Bourgogne – Franche-Comté, France, December 2019.

• Ph.D. in Automatic Control, University Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France, March 2012.

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile, March 2012.

• Master in Electrical Engineering Sciences, University of Concepción, Chile, May 2008.

• Electronic Engineer, University of Concepción, Chile, August 2006.

Current occupation

Associate Professor at the department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria (USM) in Valparaiso, Chile.

Research line: Modeling and control of multi-physical systems, nonlinear control, control of  systems described by partial differential equations, port-Hamiltonian systems. 

Past occupation

September 2013 – September 2018 Maître de conférences at the department of Automatic Control, Faculty of Science and Technologies of the Université de Franche-Comté (UFC-ST) and Researcher at the department of Automatic Control and Micro-Mechatronic Systems (AS2M) at FEMTO-ST (Franche-Comté Electronique Mécanique Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies) UMR CNRS 6174, in Besançon, France.

Nominations by the French state

• September 2014  Titularised as Maître des Conférences (Associate Prof.) at the Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France.

• September 2013  Nominated as Maître des Conférences stagiare (Assistant Prof.) at the Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France.

• March 2013     Qualification pour le corps maîtres de conférences.

Sabbatical periods

September 2017 – August 2018  To develop a research program on modeling and control of multi-physical systems, in particular of fluid-structure interaction systems, using the framework of port-Hamiltonian combined with tools from system identification and sample data models. An important part of the sabbatical period is developed in the department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Tecnica Federico Santa Maria (9 months) co-financed by an CONICYT PCI MEC funding.  

Participation in research projects

As principal investigator

2023- Basal Project FB0008. Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (AC3E), UTFSM (Chile). Head of the research line on automatic control.

2023-2027 FONDECYT REGULAR 1231896. Irreversible port-Hamiltonian formulation and control of thermo-electro-mechanical systems defined on infinite dimensional spaces. UTFSM (Chile). 

2023-2026 ECOS220040. Pseudo Hamiltonian numerical methods for modeling and control of thermo-mechanical 2D structures. 

2020-2021 CONICYT REDES 190199. Boundary control of mechanical vibrations based on optical fiber sensing. UTFSM (Chile), the University of Bologna (Italy) and La Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (Italy). 

2019-2023   FONDECYT REGULAR 1191544. Hamiltonian methods for modeling and control of reversible-irreversible multi-physical systems. UTFSM (Chile). 

2014-2015   UFC young research grant. Port-Hamiltonian control of a 1-DOF micro-robotic systems. UFC-ST and FEMTO-ST (France).

As associate researcher

2023-2027 FONDECYT REGULAR 1230777. Analysis and Design of Networked Process Control Systems. UdeC (Chile). PI: Alejandro Rojas (UdeC).  

2020-2023 Basal Project FB0008. Advanced Center for Electrical and Electronic Engineering (AC3E), UTFSM (Chile).  

2017-2020  ANR-DFG INFIDHEM (ANR-DFG 2016 NLI). Interconnected infinite-dimensional systems for heterogeneous media. Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Technische Universität München, Bergische Universität Wuppertal, (Germany), FEMTO-ST, LAGEP, ISAE-Supaero (France). Coordinators: Bernhard Maschke (LAGEP) and Birgit Jacob (Universität Wuppertal).

2017-2018  EXPLORATORIO I+D+i MACROFACULTAD DE INGENIERIA – Chile. Desarrollo de un controlador basado en energía de una máquina de reluctancia para aplicaciones de generación eólica de baja potencia. Universidad de la Frontera, Universidad del Bio-Bio, Universidad de Talca (Chile), FEMTO-ST (France). Coordinator: Roberto Moncada (Universidad de la Frontera).

2016-2017    CdC-RD-MECHATRONIQUE. Etude Prospective des solutions mecatroniques a fort potentiel pour l’industrie ferroviaire. Alstom Le Creusot, FEMTO-ST (France). Coordinator: G. Ham-Livet (Alstom Le Creusot).

2013-2015 ECOS-CONICYT C12E08, Modeling and stabilization of distributed port Hamiltonian systems: Application to micro and macro systems with thermodynamic phenomena. Universidad de Concepcion (Chile), LAGEP, FEMTO-ST (France). Coordinators: Yann Le Gorrec (France) and Daniel Sbarbaro (Chile).

2012-2014    ANR Blanc SIMI3 (ANR-11-BS03-0002) HAMECMOPSYS. Hamiltonian Methods for the control of multidomain distributed parameter systems. LAGEP, FEMTO-ST, ISAE and IECN (France). Coordinator: Yann Le Gorrec (FEMTO-ST).

As PhD./master student

2009-2010  CNRS-CONICYT 22791. Partial Stabilization of conservative contact system: Application to thermodynamic processes of irreversible reactions, Universidad de Concepcion (Chile) and LAGEP (France). Coordinators: Bernhard Maschke (LAGEP) and Daniel Sbarbaro (Universidad de Concepcion).

2009       ANR Technologie Logicielle 06-26-01 (TLOG06-26-01) PARADE. Parallel numerical Algorithms for Real time simulation of Algebraic Differential Equations systems, LAGEP, UCBL, INRIA and UBP (France). Coordinator: Damien Tromeur-Dervou (UCBL).

2008-2009    FONDECYT 1070491. Nonlinear controller design based on mass balance: Applications to hydraulic system. Universidad de Concepcion (Chile). Coordinator: Daniel Sbarbaro (UDEC).

Invited professor stays

2022 Département d’automatique et systèmes micro-mécatroniques (AS2M), FEMTO-ST, Besancon, France. Invited by Prof. Yann Le Gorrec. 2 week. 

2019 Département d’automatique et systèmes micro-mécatroniques (AS2M), FEMTO-ST, Besancon, France. Invited by Prof. Yann Le Gorrec. 2 week. 

2017 Department of Electrical Engineering of the Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. Invited by Prof. Roberto Moncada. 1 week. 

2017 Department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Santa María, Valparaiso, Chile. Invited by Prof. Juan Yuz. 2 weeks.

2016 ENTEG (ENgineering and TEchnology institute Groningen), Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands. Invited by Prof. Jacquelien Scherpen. 1 week.

2016 Department of Electrical Engineering of the Universidad de La Frontera, Temuco, Chile. Invited by Prof. Roberto Moncada. 1 week.

2016 Department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Santa María, Valparaiso, Chile. Invited by Prof. Juan Yuz. 2 weeks.

2015 Department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Santa María, Valparaiso, Chile. Invited by Prof. Juan Yuz. 2 weeks.

2015 Department of Electrical Engineering of the Universidad de Concepcion, Chile. Invited by Prof. Daniel Sbarbaro. 2 weeks.

2014 Department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Santa María, Valparaiso, Chile. Invited by Prof. Juan Yuz. 2 weeks.

Host of invited professors

2017 Ass. Prof. Lassi Paunonen (Ass. Prof. in Mathematics), Tampere University of Technology, Finland. Funding University of Franche Comté. 1 month.

2017 Prof. Hans Zwart (Prof. in Mathematics), University of Twente, The Netherlands. Funding U. de Twente. 1 week.

2017 Ass. Prof. Alessandro Macchelli (Ass. Prof. in Automation), University of Bologna, Italy. Funding U. Bologna. 1 week.

2015 Prof. Daniel Sbarbaro (Prof. in Automation), Universidad of Concepcion, Chile. Funding ECOS-Sud. 1 week.

2015 Prof. Hans Zwart (Prof. in Mathematics), University of Twente, The Netherlands. Funding University of Franche Comté. 1 month.

2015 Ass. Prof. Juan Yuz (Prof. in Automation), Universidad Santa María, Chile. Funding ENSMM. 1 month.

2014 Ass. Prof. Alessandro Macchelli (Ass. Prof. in Automation), University of Bologna, Italy. Funding ENSMM. 1 month.

2013 Prof. Hans Zwart (Prof. in Mathematics), University of Twente, The Netherlands. Funding ENSMM. 1 month.

Invited as speaker to conferences and workshops

1. Speaker at the conference on Energy-Based Modeling, Simulation, and Control of Complex Constrained Multiphysical Systems. Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques, CIRM, Luminy, Marseille, France, 18 - 22 April 2022. Title: Boundary Controlled Irreversible Port-Hamiltonian Systems.

2. Speaker at the Workshop “30 years of port-Hamiltonian systems & 60th anniversary of Bernhard Maschke”, October 14-15, as part of the 7th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control, October 11-13, 2021, Berlin, Germany.

3. Speaker at the Workshop "On the occasion of Hans Zwart's 60th birthday" 25-26 October 2019, UParkhotel on the campus of the University of Twente, Netherlands.  

4. Speaker at the 3rd IFAC/IEEE CSS Workshop on Control of Systems Governed by Partial Differential Equations CPDE and XI Workshop Control of Distributed Parameter Systems, CDPS 2019. Oaxaca, Mexico, May 20-24, 2019. Title: Some Recent Results on Boundary Control of Infinite Dimensional Port-Hamiltonian Systems on 1-D Spatial Domains.

5. Plenary speaker at the 1th AC3E Workshop on Automatic Control. Universidad Santa Maria, Valparaiso, Chile, 4th Jan 2017. Title: Control of non-isothermal chemical reaction networks using irreversible port-Hamiltonian systems.

6. Plenary speaker at the 1th Workshop on Energy Based Modeling, Simulation, and Control of Complex Physical Systems. Technische Universitt Berlin, April 7-8, 2016, Germany. Title: On the passivity based control of irreversible processes: a port-Hamiltonian approach.

Invited as speaker to summer schools

1. Modeling and control of thermodynamic systems. Spring School on Theory and Applications of Port-Hamiltonian Systems (PHS 2019). 31 March 2019 – 5 April 2019, Fraueninsel (Chiemsee), Bavaria, Germany. 

2. Modelling and control of Irreversible port-Hamiltonian systems. Pre-workshop doctoral school of the 6th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Nonlinear Control (LHMNLC 2019). 30 April – 1 May 2018, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaíso, Chile. 

3. Introduction to port-Hamiltonian control systems. Postgraduate course at the Doctoral School of the University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, Edition 2015, 2016 and 2017. 

4. Energy based modeling and control of multi-physical systems. Postgraduate course at the Doctoral School of the Universidad de la frontera, Temuco, Chile. 23 - 25 Mars, 2016. 

5. Modeling and control of complex physical systems: the port-Hamiltonian approach. Postgraduate course at the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaiso, Chile. 27 - 29 October, 2014. 

6. Stability and stabilization of distributed port-Hamiltonian systems. Postgraduate mini-course in the frame of 21th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS 2014) hosted by the University of Groningen, the Netherlands, 7-11 July, 2014, with the support of the Dutch Institute of Systems and Control (DISC). 

7. Energy based modeling and control of physical systems. Postgraduate course of the Summer School on Estimation and Control at the Department of Electronic Engineering of Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Valparaiso, Chile. 13 - 17 January, 2014.

International expertise upon request

2016-2017 Expert for the assessment of the Dutch-Flemish Accreditation Organisation (NVAO) for the accreditation of the departments of Industrial Management and Engineering, of the University of Groningen, Netherlands.

Member in Technical Committees

    1. IEEE Control Systems Society Technical Committee on Distributed Parameter Systems (DSP). Since 2016.

    2. (vice chair for social medias) IFAC Technical Committee on Distributed Parameter Systems (TC2.6). Since 2020.

    3. IFAC Technical Committee on Non-linear Control Systems (TC2.3). Since 2015.

Member of Programme Committees

    1. Co-Chair of the International Program Committee (IPC) of The 3rd IFAC Workshop on Thermodynamic Foundation on Mathematical Systems Theory (TFMST), Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, July 3-5, 2019.

    2. Editor of the 6th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Non Linear Control (LHMNLC) Valparaiso, Chile, May 2-4, 2018.

    3. Invited Editor of the The IMA Journal of Mathematical Control and Information on the special issue on "Recent trends on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian methods for non-linear and distributed parameter systems control". 2019 -2020.

    4. Associate Editor for the American Control Conference (ACC) and the Conference for Decision and Control (CDC) since 2019. 

    5. Associate Editor for the 25th International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS 2022), 12-16 September 2022, Bayreuth, Germany.

    6. Associate Editor for the 3rd IFAC Conference on Modelling, Identification and Control of Nonlinear Systems (MICNON 2021). Fully Online, September 15-17, 2021.

    7. Associate Editor of the 2nd and 4th IFAC Workshop on Control of Systems Governed by Partial Differential Equations (CPDE), Bertinoro, Italy, June 13-15, 2016, Kiel, Germany from September 7-9, 2022.

    8. Associate Editor of the 5th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Non Linear Control (LHMNLC) Lyon, France, July 4-7, 2015.

    9. International Program Committees (IPC) The 5th, 6th and 67h IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Non Linear Control (LHMNLC) Lyon, France, July 4-7, 2015, Valparaiso, Chile, May 2-4, 2018, Berlin, Germany, October 11-13, 2021.

Organization of conferences and international summer schools

2017 Co-organiser and Editor of the 6th IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Non Linear Control (LHMNLC) Valparaiso, Chile, May 2-4, 2018.

2015-  Co-organiser and Speaker of the PHCS’ 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015: Introduction to port-Hamiltonian control systems. Postgraduate course at the Doctoral School of the University of Franche-Comté (14h EqTD), Besançon France.

2014   Co-organiser and Speaker of the UTFSM’ 2014: Modeling and control of complex physical systems: the port-Hamiltonian approach. Postgraduate course at the Department of Electronic Engineering of the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María (17h EqTD), Valparaiso, Chile. 27 - 29 October 2014.

Member of National Research Groups (France)

    1. Groupe de travail EDP ”Théorie et applications des systèmes à paramètres repartis” du GDR MACS. Since 2012.

    2. DEMO 1 and WP5.3 du LABEX ACTION at FEMTO-ST. Since 2013.

Local scientific responsibilities (FEMTO-ST)

2017 – 2018 Member of the scientific council of the AS2M department of FEMTO-ST.

2013 – 2019 Responsible and animator of the scientific seminars and discussions of the CODE research group of the AS2M department of FEMTO-ST. 

Local teaching responsibilities (UFC)

2013 - 2018  Responsible of the courses Modélisation des systèmes mécatroniques 1 and 2 for the Master Mécatronique, Microsystèmes et Electronique Embarquée (M2E2) of the UFC.

2013 - 2018  Responsible of the cours Automatique et Contrôle for Biomedical Engineering of the Institut Supérieur d'Ingénieurs de Franche-comté

2013 - 2018  Co-responsible of the cours Outils mathématiques pour l'ingénieur 3 for the Cursus Master en Ingénierie (CMI) Mécanique, électronique, automatique (EEA): Structures et Systèmes intelligentS (S-cube) of the UFC.

Local teaching responsibilities (USM)

2018 - Responsible of the courses Teoria de redes electricas 2 for Electronic Engineering of the USM.

2018 - Responsible of the cours Seminario avanzado de control for the Electronic Engineering postgraduate program of the USM.

2019 - Responsible of the cours Dinámica de sistemas for the Electronic Engineering postgraduate program of the USM.

PhD. and Master students supervision

    1. Ph.D. thesis. Cristobal Ponce. Title to be defined. April 2021 – December 2024. UFC/FEMTO-ST/USM, Valparaiso, Chile. Supervisors: Hector Ramirez  and Yann Le Gorrec. Funding ANID.

    2. Ph.D. thesis. Jesus Toledo. Observer based control of distributed port-Hamiltonian systems. November 2017 – Mai 2021. UFC/FEMTO-ST, Besançon France. Supervisors: Yann Le Gorrec and Hector Ramirez. Funding ANR.

    3. Ph.D. thesis. Luis Mora. Robust and adaptive control of port-Hamiltonian systems. October 2017 – October 2020. UFC/USM/FEMTO-ST, Besançon France, Valparaiso Chile. Juan Yuz, Hector Ramirez and Yann Le Gorrec. Funding CONICYT/Region Franche-Comté.

    4. Ph.D. thesis. Vincent Trenchant. Smart boundary control of vibroacoustic and elastodynamic systems. November 2014 - November 2017. UFC/FEMTO-ST, Besançon France. Supervisors: Yann Le Gorrec and Hector Ramirez. Funding LABEX ACTION.

    5. Master thesis. Pablo Yañez. Modelado y control de proceso Electrodializador. January – December 2022. USM, Valparaiso, Chile. Supervisors: Hector Ramirez. Funding ANID.

    6. Master thesis. Ignacio Villalobos. Passivity Based Control of Irreversible Port Hamiltonian System: An Energy Shaping Plus Damping Injection Approach, January – September 2020. USM, Valparaiso, Chile. Supervisors: Hector Ramirez. Funding ANID.

    7. Master thesis. Andrea Mattioni. Port-Hamiltonian modeling and control of flexible structures, September 2016 – February 2017. U. Bologna/UFC/FEMTO-ST, Besançon France. Supervisors: Hector Ramirez and Yongxin Wu. Funding U. Bologna/ANR.

    8. Master thesis. Harizaka Rakotondratsimba. Port-Hamiltonian control of a 1-DOF micro-robotic systems, April – August 2014. UFC/FEMTO-ST, Besançon France. Supervisors: Hector Ramirez and Cedric Clevy. Funding UFC.

    9. Master thesis. Yassine Fares. Modeling and distributed control of an acoustic process, December 2013 – April 2014. UFC/FEMTO-ST, Besançon France. Supervisors: Yann Le Gorrec and Hector Ramirez. Funding LABEX ACTION.

Non funded undergraduate and master projects supervision

    1. Engineering scientific project. Francisco Pereira. Modelado y Control de Sistemas Electro Mecánicos con Enfoque Hamiltoniano a Puerto. Mars 2020 – April 2021. USM, Valparaiso, Chile. Supervisors: Hector Ramirez.

    2. Master scientific project. Hicham Touzani. LQ control of multi-physical systems. June – July 2017. FEMTO-ST. Hector Ramirez.

    3. Engineering scientific project. Andrey Maslovskiy. Commande d'amortisseurs électro-réhologiques pour le ferroviaire. Mars – July 2017. ENSMM/FEMTO-ST, Besançon, France. Supervisors: Hector Ramirez and Yann Le Gorrec.

    4. Engineering scientific project. Laurélène Rozet. Energy based modeling and control for non-contact micro-manipulation based on actuated flows. March – July 2017. ISIFC/FEMTO-ST, Besançon, France. Supervisor: Hector Ramirez.

    5. Master scientific project. Yohan Breton. Contrôle robuste et adaptif de systèmes physique complexes. November 2016 – February 2017. UFC/FEMTO-ST, Besançon, France. Supervisor: Hector Ramirez.

Participation in review committees

International peer reviewed journals (regular reviewer): Automatica, Systems & Control Letters, Journal of Process Control, IEEE Transaction on automatic control, IEEE Transactions on Circuit and Systems I and II, Mathematical and Computer Modelling of Dynamical Systems, International Journal of Control.

International peer reviewed conferences (regular reviewer): IFAC World Congress, IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Methods for Non-linear Control (LHMNLC), IFAC Workshop on Thermodynamic Foundations of Mathematical Systems Theory (TFMST), American Control Conference (ACC), IFAC Symposium on Nonlinear Control Systems (NOLCOS), IFAC Workshop on Control of Systems Governed by Partial Differential Equations (CPDE), IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), SIAM Conference on Control and its Applications, International Conference on Mathematical Modelling (MATHMOD), International Symposium on Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems (MTNS).