Biography

Ricardo de Castro received his Licenciatura and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Porto, Portugal, in 2006 and 2013, respectively. From 2007 to 2008, he was the co-founder of the startup WeMoveU, focusing on developing powertrain control solutions for lightweight electric vehicles. From 2013 to 2020, he was with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of System Dynamics and Control (SR), where he worked on enabling technologies for electric mobility and automated driving. In 2021, he joined the University of California, Merced, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

His current research focuses on controls and optimization for zero-emission and robotic vehicles. Ricardo holds four patents and has authored over 100 papers in international journals, conferences, and book chapters. He is a recipient of three best paper awards from IEEE and ASME, as well as the Hellman Fellowship Award, which recognizes outstanding early-career faculty within the University of California system. Ricardo serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and IEEE Access. He is also the Vice President for Motor Vehicles at the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, the founding Chair of the IEEE Automated Vehicles Standards Committee (AVSC), and the General Chair of the 2022 IEEE Vehicle Power and Propulsion Conference (VPPC).

Throughout his career, Ricardo de Castro has been involved in the development of several electric vehicles for research and educational purposes, featuring car-to-car communications and x-by-wire actuators (ROMO), multiple electric motors (uCar) and FPGA-based high performance control units (VEP).