Research Interest: Control and Optimization Theory, Robotics, Machine Learning, Autonomous Systems

Wei Zhang received the B.S. in Automatic Control from the University of Science and Technology of China in 2003, the M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Kentucky in 2005, and the M.S. in Statistics and the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering both from Purdue University in 2009. From January 2010 to August 2011, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the EECS Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as an Assistant Professor (2011 – 2017) and then an Associate Professor (with tenure) of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Ohio State University. His research interests include control and optimization theory, machine learning, motion planning, and their applications in robotics and autonomous systems. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award and the Lumley Research Award at the Ohio State University. He is currently a Senior Member of IEEE and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Control System Technology. 

Education Background：
◆ 2005.08-2009.12 Purdue University   Electrical and Computer Engineering       Ph.D
◆ 2008.05-2008.08 Stanford University   Aeronautics and Astronautics     Visiting Student
◆ 2003.08-2005.05  University of Kentucky    Electrical and Computer Engineering       Master
◆ 1999.09-2003.05  University of Science and Technology of China  Automation       Bachelor

Working Experience：
◆ 2019.05                 Dept. of MEE, Southern University of Science and Technology of China  Professor
◆ 2017.06-2019.05   Dept. of ECE, The Ohio State University     Associate Professor   
◆ 2011.09-2017.05  Dept. of ECE, The Ohio State University      Assistant Professor
◆ 2010.01-2011.08  Dept. of EECS, University of California, Berkeley     Post Doctor

Selected Award:
◆ 2016  NSF CAREER Award, National Science Foundation
◆ 2015  Lumley Research Award, College of Engineering, The Ohio State University
◆ 2013  AFOSR ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship

Selected Publication:
1.Guillermo Castillo, Bowen Weng, Ayonga Hereid, Zheng Wang, Wei Zhang , “Reinforcement Learning Meets Hybrid Zero Dynamics: A Case Study for RABBIT”,  2019 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Montreal, Canada, May, 2019

2.Lin Zhao and Wei Zhang, “A Unified Stochastic Hybrid System Approach to Aggregate Modeling of Responsive Loads”, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol 63, Issue 12, pp. 4250 - 4263 December 2018

3.Hao Li, Hua Chen, Wei Zhang, “On Model-Free Reinforcement Learning for Switched Linear Systems: A Subspace Clustering Approach”, 56th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), IL, USA, October, 2018

4.Hua Chen and Wei Zhang, “On Weak Topology for Optimal Control of Switched Nonlinear Systems”, Automatica, Vol 81, pp. 409-415, July 2017

5.Zhengyuan Zhou, Wei Zhang, Jerry Ding, Haomiao Huang, Dusan M. Stipanovic, and Claire J. Tomlin, “Cooperative Pursuit with Voronoi Partitions”, Automatica, vol. 72, pp. 64-72, October, 2016

6.Chin-Yao Chang* and Wei Zhang, “Distributed Control of Inverter-Based Lossy Microgrids for Power Sharing and Frequency Regulation Under Voltage Constraints”, Automatica, vol. 66, pp. 85-95, April, 2016

7.Sen Li*, Wei Zhang, Jianming Lian, and Karanjit Kalsi, “Market-based Coordination of Thermostatically Controlled Loads—Part I: A Mechanism Design Formulation”, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 1170 – 1178, March, 2016

8.Michael Vitus, Wei Zhang, Alessandro Abate, Jianghai Hu and Claire Tomlin, “Efficient Sensor Scheduling for Linear Dynamical Systems”, Automatica, Vol 48, No. 10, pp. 2482–2493, Oct. 2012

9.Michael Vitus, Wei Zhang, and Claire Tomlin, “A Hierarchical Method for Stochastic Motion Planning in Uncertain Environments”, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Algarve, Portugal, Oct. 2012

10.Wei Zhang, Maryam Kamgarpour, Dengfeng Sun and Claire Tomlin, “A Hierarchical Flight Planning Framework for Air Traffic Management”, Proceedings of the IEEE, vol. 100, no. 1, pp. 179-194, Jan. 2012

11.Jerry Ding, Jeremy H. Gillula, Haomiao Huang, Michael P. Vitus, Wei Zhang, and Claire J. Tomlin, “Hybrid Systems in Robotics”, IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine (the first five authors contribute equally), vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 33-43, Sept. 2011

12.Haomiao Huang, Jerry Ding, Wei Zhang and Claire Tomlin, “A Differential Game Approach to Planning in Adversarial Scenarios: A Case Study on Capture-the-Flag”, 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Shanghai, China, May 2011

13.Wei Zhang, Alessandro Abate, Jianghai Hu and Michael Vitus, “Exponential Stabilization of Discrete-Time Switched Linear Systems”, Automatica, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 2526-2536, Nov. 2009

14.Wei Zhang and Jianghai Hu, “Optimal Multi-agent Coordination under Tree Formation Constraints”, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 53, no. 3, pp. 692-705, Apr. 2008