Robert F. Stengel
Robert Stengel is a Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Director of the Program on Robotics and Intelligent Systems, and an Affiliated Faculty Member of the Program in Quantitative and Computational Biology and of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. His current research focuses on systems biology, robust control, neural networks, and intelligent systems. Research on correlating cancer with gene expressions portrayed by DNA microarray data has been supported by the National Cancer Institute. The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation previously supported research on optimal control of disease processes, with a particular emphasis on HIV. Dr. Stengel is teaching Optimal Control and Estimation (MAE 546) during the Spring 2010 term.
Prior to joining the Princeton faculty in 1977, Dr. Stengel was with
The Analytic Sciences Corporation, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, the US Air Force, and NASA. At the Draper Laboratory (1968-73), he was principal designer of the
Apollo Project Lunar Module manual control logic used for all moon landings, and he contributed to Space Shuttle guidance and control system design. There, he also initiated a project to develop a Bedside Biomedical Computer for the analysis of cardiovascular data. His work at TASC (1973-77) included optimal-control modeling of the human pilot and resulting interactions with aircraft dynamics, fuel-optimal flight paths for jet transports, digital control of high-performance aircraft and helicopters, submarine dynamics and control, and statistical assessment of the effects of electric powerplant waste water on biologically indigenous populations. While serving as an Air Force lieutenant (1960-63), he was a Range Safety Officer at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility .
During 2005, Professor Stengel was on sabbatical leave as a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study. He was affiliated with the Simons Center for Systems Biology in the School of Natural Sciences. While on sabbatical leave in 1998, Professor Stengel was a Visiting Professor/Scholar at Duke University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, Delft University of Technology, Imperial College of Science, Medicine, and Technology, University of California at San Diego, and Stanford University. From 1994 to 1997, he served as the Engineering School's Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. During that time, he initiated new programs of graduate study and undergraduate computer education, and he developed an innovative approach to teaching engineering freshman seminars. As Director of Princeton's Flight Research Laboratory from 1977 to 1983, Stengel, his students, and staff conducted pioneering experimental research on digital flight control systems, flight computer networking via fiber-optics, aircraft flying qualities, and aerodynamic system identification. This research used Princeton's two fly-by-wire, variable-stability aircraft and a specially instrumented sailplane.
Dr. Stengel received the S.B. degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from M.I.T (1960) and M.S.E., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton University (1965, 1966, 1968). He is a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He has received the John R. Ragazzini Education Award of the American Automatic Control Council (2002) and the AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award (2000). Together with R. John Hansman, MIT, and Robert Lilley, Ohio University, he is the recipient of the FAA's 1997 Excellence in Aviation Award.
Selected Publications and Presentations
Books
- OPTIMAL CONTROL AND ESTIMATION, Dover Publications, New York, 1994. (originally published as STOCHASTIC OPTIMAL CONTROL; Theory and Application, J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 1986.)
- FLIGHT DYNAMICS, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2004.
- Robotics and Intelligent Systems: A Virtual Textbook, http://www.princeton.edu/~stengel/RISVirText.html, 2010.
Open Courseware
Journal Papers
- Optimal Control of Innate Immune Response (pdf), Optimal Control Applications & Methods, Vol. 23, Mar-Apr 2002, pp. 91-104 (with R. Ghigliazza, N. Kulkarni, and O. Laplace).
- Robust Control of Nonlinear Systems with Parametric Uncertainty (pdf), Automatica, Vol. 38, Sept 2002, pp. 1591-1599 (with Q. Wang).
- Optimal Enhancement of Immune Response (pdf), Bioinformatics, Vol. 18, No. 9, Sept 2002, pp. 1227-1235 (with R. Ghigliazza and N. Kulkarni).
- On-Line Adaptive Critic Flight Control (pdf), J. Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 27, No. 5, Sept-Oct 2004, pp. 777-786 (with S. Ferrari).
- Stochastic Optimal Enhancement of Immune Response (pdf), Mathematical Biosciences, Vol. 191, Oct 2004, pp. 123-142 (with R. Ghigliazza).
- Model-based Adaptive Critic Designs (pdf), in Learning and Approximate Dynamic Programming, J. Si, A. Barto, W. Powell, and D. Wunsch, ed., J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 2004 (with S. Ferrari).
- Smooth Function Approximation Using Neural Networks (pdf), IEEE Trans. Neural Networks, Vol. 16, No. 1, Jan 2005, pp. 24-38 (with S. Ferrari).
- Robust Nonlinear Flight Control of a High-Performance Aircraft (pdf), IEEE Trans. Control Systems Technology, Vol. 13, No. 1, Jan 2005, pp. 15-26 (with Q. Wang).
- Probabilistic Control of Nonlinear Uncertain Dynamic Systems (pdf), in Probabilistic and Randomized Methods for Design under Uncertainty, G. Calafiore and F. Dabbene, ed., Springer, New York, 2006, pp. 381-414 (with Q. Wang).
- Relationship of Gene Expression and Chromosomal Abnormalities in Colorectal Cancer (pdf), Cancer Research, Vol. 66, No. 4, 2006, pp. 2129-2137 (with D. Tsafrir, M. Bacalod, Z. Selvanayagam, I. Tsafrir, J. Shia, Z. Zeng, H. Liu, C. Krier, F. Barany, W. Gerald, P. Paty, E. Domany, and D. Notterman).
- Mutation and Control of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Mathematical Biosciences, Vol. 213, No. 2, June 2008, pp. 93-102.
- The Signatures of Autozygosity Among Patients with Colorectal Cancer, Cancer Research, Vol. 68, No. 8, Apr 15, 2008, pp. 2610-2621 (with M. Bacolod, G. Schemmann, S. Wang, R. Shattock, S. Giardina, Z. Zeng, J. Shia, N. Gerry, J. Hoh, T. Kirchoff, B. Gold, M. Christman, K. Offit, W. Gerald, D. Notterman, J. Ott, P. Paty, and F. Barany).
Recent Talks
- Multiclass Analysis of Gene Expression Data (pdf), Institute for Advanced Study, 2006.
- Biologically Inspired Robots (pdf), Princeton University, 2006.
- Neural-Adaptive Control of Dynamic Systems (pdf), George Washington University, 2007.
- Multiclass Analysis of Microarray Data (pdf), Princeton University, 2009.
- Stochastic Robustness of Control Systems (pdf), Princeton University, 2009.
Interview
- People in Control (pdf), IEEE Control Systems Magazine, Vol. 29, No. 3, June 2009, pp. 24-27.
Research
Course Outlines
Publications
- Telephone: (609) 258-5103
- Fax: (609) 258-6109
- E-mail: stengel at princeton.edu
- Address:
Princeton University
D-202 Engineering Quadrangle
Princeton, NJ 08544
