Qian  Wang

                               Associate Professor
         Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
                               325 Leonhard Building
                        The Pennsylvania State University
                              University Park, PA 16802

               Phone: (814) 865-8281, Fax: (814) 865 - 9693
                               Email: quw6@psu.edu 

Curriculum Vitae

Research Interests

• Performance Management of Information and Computer Systems
• Coordinated Control of Groups of Mobile Agents
• Probabilistic Robust Control, Nonlinear Control
• Optimization and Soft Computing

• Nonlinear Robust Control: A Stochastic Programming Approach (NSF/CMMI)
• Probabilistic Robust Coordinated Control of Quorum Systems of Mobile Autonomous Agents (NSF/CMS)
• Data-Driven Autonomic Performance Modulation for Servers (NSF/ITR, with A. Sivasubramaniam (PI) and N. Gautam (co-PI))
• Online Control for Self-Tuning Autonomic Storage Systems (Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, with A. Sivasubramaniam (PI))

Teaching

• ME440 , Modeling of Dynamic Systems, Fall 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07
• ME 566, Robust Control, Spring 03.
• ME 455, Automatic Control Systems, Spring 07. 
• ME 555, Linear Systems and Optimal Control ( previous Automatic Control Systems), Spring 05, 06.
• ME 597I, Geometric Approaches to Nonlinear Control, Spring 04, 07.

Students

• Wubi Qin (Ph.D.), graduated in 2007
• Armin Ataei-Esfahani (Ph.D.), received MS in 08/2006 and completed candidacy exam in 08/2007
• Jing Zhou (Ph.D.), received MS and completed comprehensive exam in 09/2007
• Xiaofeng Mao (Ph.D.), received MS and completed comprehensive exam in 08/2007

Patents

    Data placement for fault tolerance. Patent Granted. US Patent 700141, Feb. 14, 2006.
    (with M. Karlsson, J. Wilks)

    Global data placement. Patent Granted. US Patent 7225118, May 29, 2007.
    (with M. Kallahalla, A. Merchant, N. Mishra, R. Swaminathan)

Publications

    Book Chapter

     Probabilistic Control of Nonlinear Uncertain Systems
     Probabilistic and Randomized Methods for Design under Uncertainty, Springer-Verlag, London, 2006
     (with R. F. Stengel)

    Journal

     A CFD-based Tool for Studying Temperature in Rack-mounted Servers
     IEEE Transactions on Computers, in press.
     (with J. Choi, Y. Kim, A. Sivasubramaniam, J. Srebric, and J. Lee)

     An \alpha-stable Model Based Linear-Parameter-Varying Control for Managing Server Performance under Self-similar Workloads
     IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, in press..
     (with W. Qin and A. Sivasubramaniam)

     On Convex Parameterization of Robust Control Design for Minimizing (Conditional) Performance at Risk
     International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control, in press.

     An LPV Approximation for Admission Control of an Internet Web Server: Identification and Control
     Control Engineering Practice, Vol. 15, No. 12, pp. 1457-1467, 2007.
     (with W. Qin)

     Modeling and Control Design for Performance Management of Web Servers via an LPV Approach
     IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 259-275, 2007.
     (with W. Qin)

     Robust Failure Compensation for a Morphing Aircraft Model Using a Probabilistic Approach
     IEEE Transactions on Control System Technology, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 324-331, 2007.
     (with A. Ataei-Esfahani)

     Storage Performance virtualization via Throughput and Latency Control 
     ACM Transactions on Storage, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 283-308, 2006.
     (with J. Zhang, A. Sivasubramaniam, A. Riska, and E. Riedel )

     Consolidating Clients on Back-End Servers with Co-location and Frequency Control
     ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review, pp. 383- 384, 2006.
     (with Y. Chen, A. Das, A. Sivasubramaniam, R. Harper, and M. Bland)

     Quickly Finding Near-Optimal Storage Designs
     ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 337-374, 2006.
     (with E. Anderson, S. Spence, R. Swaminathan, M. Kallahalla)

     Managing Server Energy and Operational Costs in Hosting Centers
     ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 303-314, 2005.
     (with Y. Chen, A. Das, W. Qin, A. Sivasubramaniam, N. Gautam)

     Robust Nonlinear Flight Control of a High-Performance Aircraft
     IEEE Transactions on Control System Technology, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 15-26, 2005.
     (with Robert F. Stengel)

     An Interposed Two Level I/O Scheduling Framework for PerformanceVirtualization
     ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 406-407, 2005.
     (with J. Zhang, A. Sivasubramaniam, A. Riska, and E. Riedel)

     Reliable Operation of Rotorcraft Using Probabilistic Robust Control, Control Engineering Practice,
     pp. 1037-1046, 2005.
     (with J. Horn, D., Tolani, C. Lagoa, and A. Ray)

     Book review of Optimal Estimation of Dynamic Systems
     AIAA Journal, Vol. 43, No.1, pp. 220-221, 2005.

     Pricing-Based Strategies for Autonomic Control of Web Servers for Time-Varying Request Arrivals
     Journal of Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence (Special Issue on Autonomic Computing),
     Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 841-854, 2004.
     (with Y. Chen, A. Das, N. Gautam, and A. Sivasubramaniam)

     Book review of Robust Autonomous Guidance: An Internal Model Approach
     IEEE Control Systems Magazine, Vol. 24, No.5, pp. 97-98, 2004.

     Robust Control of Nonlinear Systems with Parametric Uncertainty
     Automatica, Vol. 38, 2002, pp. 1591 - 1599.
     (with Robert F. Stengel).

     Searching for Robust Minimal – Order Compensators
     ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement, and Control, Vol. 123, No. 2, 2001, pp. 233-236.
     (with Robert F. Stengel)

     Robust Nonlinear Control of a Hypersonic Aircraft,
     Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, Vol. 23, No. 4, 2000, pp. 577-585.
     (with Robert F. Stengel)

    Conference

    Using Stochastic Linear-Parameter-Varying Control for CPU Management of Internet Servers,
    Proceedings of the 46th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, New Orleans, LA, December 2007. (Invited Paper for the Session on Applying Control Theory to Management of IT Systems).
    (with W. Qin)

    An LPV Approach to Performance Control of Web Servers under Self-Similar Workloads,
    Proceedings of the 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Feedback Control Implementation and Design in Computing Systems and Networks, Munich, Germany, May 2007.
    (with W. Qin)

    Nonlinear Control Design of a Hypersonic Aircraft Using Sum-of-Squares Method,
    Proceedings of American Control Conference, New York City, July 2007, pp. 5278-5283.
    ACC Best Presentation in the Session Award (with A. Ataei-Esfahani)

    Modeling and Managing Thermal Profiles of Rack-mounted Servers with ThermoStat.
    Proceedings of the International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecure (HPCA), Phoenix, AZ,  2007.
    (with J. Choi, Y. Kim, A. Sivasubramaniam, J. Srebric, J. Lee) (28 accepted / 174 submissions)

    Nonlinear Robust Control Design for a Supercavitating Vehicle,
    Proceedings of ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Chicago, 2006.
    (with X. Mao) 

    Robust Failure Compensation for a Morphing Aircraft Model Using a Probabilistic Approach
    Proceedings of American Control Conference, Minneapolis, MN, pp. 351-356,  2006.
    ACC Best Presentation in the Session Award (with A. Ataei-Esfahani)

    A First-Principles based LPV Modeling and Design for Performance Management of Internet Web Servers
    Proceedings of American Control Conference, Minneapolis, MN, pp. 2939-2944, 2006.
    (with W. Qin, Y. Chen, and N. Gautam)

    Storage Performance Virtualization via Throughput and Latency Control
    Proceedings of the IEEE/ACM International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation of Computer and  Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS), Atlanta, GA, pp. 135-142, 2005.
    (with J. Zhang, A. Riska, A. Sivasubramaniam, E. Riedel)

    Feedback Performance Control for Computer Systems: An LPV Approach
    Proceedings of American Control Conference, Portland, OR, pp. 4760-4765, 2005.
    (with W. Qin)

    Pricing and Autonomic Control of Web Servers with Time-Varying Request Patterns
    Proceedings of the International Conference on Autonomic Computing, Seattle, WA, pp. 290-291, 2004.
    (with Y. Chen, A. Das, N. Gautam, A. Sivasubramaniam)

    Probabilistic Robust Control Design of Polynomial Vector Fields, Proceedings of IEEE Conference on
    Decision and Control, Maui, HI, 2003, pp. 2447-2452.

    Reliable Operation of Rotorcraft Using Probabilistic Robust Control
    Proceedings of IFAC Symposium on Fault Detection, Supervision and Safety of Technical Processes, DC, pp. 181-186, 2003.
    (with J. Horn, D. Tolani, C. Lagoa, A. Ray)

    Plutus – Scalable Secure Sharing on Untrusted Storage
    Proceedings of USENIX Conference on File and Storage Technologies (FAST), San Francisco, CA, pp. 29-42, 2003.
    (with M. Kallahalla, E. Riedel, R. Swaminathan, and K. Fu) (18 accepted / 87 submissions)

    Robust Flight Control of a High Performance Aircraft,
    AIAA paper 2001-4101, August 2001.
    (with Robert F. Stengel)

    Robust Nonlinear Control of a Hypersonic Aircraft,
    Proceedings of AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Conference, Portland, OR, August 1999, pp. 413-423.
    (with Robert F. Stengel)

    Robust Control of Nonlinear Systems with Parametric Uncertainty,
    Proceedings of 37th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Tampa, FL, December 1998, pp. 3341-3346.
    (with Robert F. Stengel)

    Searching for Robust Minimal-Order Compensators,
    Proceedings of 1998 American Control Conference, Philadelphia, PA, June 1998, pp. 3138-3142.
    (with Robert F. Stengel)

    Searching for Minimal-Order Robust Compensators (abstract),
    Applied Probability Conference, Cambridge, MA, June 1997.
    (with Robert F. Stengel)
 

Services

Professional Organizations and Conference Committees

     Invited Session Area Chair, AIAA Guidance, Navigation, & Control Conference, 2007 & 2008

     Program Committee Member, IFIP/IEEE International Workshop on Feedback Control Implementation and Design in Computing Systems and Networks (FeBID), 2007.

     Secretary, Technical Committee on Mechatronics, ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division, 2006 -

     Member, AIAA Guidance, Navigation & Control Technical Committee, 2004 - 

     Vice Chair, Adaptive and Optimal Control Panel, ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Division, 2004- 2005.

    
Organized & Chaired Conference Sessions 

     Co-organizer, Symposium on Theory and Application of Adaptive and Optimal Control for ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (IMECE), 2004, 2005, & 2006.

     Session Chair, Application of Observers for Nonlinear Systems, American Control Conference, 2007

     Session Co-Chair, Nonlinear observers for Fault Detection, American Control Conference, 2007.

     Session Chair, Adaptive and Optimal Control (II), ASME IMECE, 2006

     Session Co-Chair, Control Theory of Aerospace Systems, American Control Conference, 2006.

     Session Co-Chair, Modeling, Control, and Optimization in Finance, American Control Conference, 2006.

     Session Chair, Applications of Variable Structure and Backstepping Control, ASME IMECE, 2004.

Reviewer

     Book proposal, Marcel Dekker.

     Book manuscript review, Oxford University Press.

     Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics

     Systems and Control Letters

     IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control

     Automatica

     ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control

     IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology

     International Journal of Robust and Nonlinear Control

     IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems

     Aerospace Science and Technology

     Journal of Process Control, Special Issue

     IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems

     Journal of Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence: Special Issue

     IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics

     European Journal of Control

     Journal of Mechanics of Structures and Machines

     Conferences sponsored by IEEE, AIAA, & ASME.