Georgia Institute of Technology – Fridays 2-4:45 pm ET
Designers: Andrew Rosemberg & Michael Klamkin
Instructor: Prof. Pascal Van Hentenryck
This student-led course explores modern techniques for controlling — and learning to control — dynamical systems. Topics range from classical optimal control and numerical optimization to reinforcement learning, PDE-constrained optimization (finite-element methods, Neural DiffEq, PINNs, neural operators), and GPU-accelerated workflows.
- Solid linear-algebra background
- Programming experience in Julia, Python, or MATLAB
- Basic ODE familiarity
| Component | Weight |
|---|---|
| Participation & paper critiques | 25 % |
| In-class presentations | 50 % |
| Projects | 25 % |
| # | Date (MM/DD) | Format / Presenter | Topic & Learning Goals | Prep / Key Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 08/22/2025 | Lecture — Andrew Rosemberg | Course map; why PDE-constrained optimization; tooling overview; stability & state-space dynamics; Lyapunov; discretization issues | 📚 |
| 2 | 08/29/2025 | Lecture - TBD | Numerical optimization for control (grad/SQP/QP); ALM vs. interior-point vs. penalty methods | |
| 3 | 09/05/2025 | Lecture - Zaowei Dai | Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle; shooting & multiple shooting; LQR, Riccati, QP viewpoint (finite / infinite horizon) | |
| 4 | 09/12/2025 | External seminar 1 - Joaquim Dias Garcia | Dynamic Programming & Model-Predictive Control | |
| 5 | 09/19/2025 | Lecture - Guancheng "Ivan" Qiu | Nonlinear trajectory optimization; collocation; implicit integration | |
| 6 | 09/26/2025 | External seminar 2 - Henrique Ferrolho | Trajectory optimization on robots in Julia Robotics | |
| 7 | 10/03/2025 | Lecture - TBD | Essentials of PDEs for control engineers; weak forms; FEM/FDM review; Hybrid control with classical PDE solvers | |
| 8 | 10/10/2025 | External seminar 3 TBD (speaker to be confirmed) | Topology optimization | |
| 9 | 10/17/2025 | External seminar 4 — François Pacaud | GPU-accelerated optimal control | |
| 10 | 10/24/2025 | Lecture - Michael Klamkin | Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs): formulation & pitfalls | |
| 11 | 10/31/2025 | External seminar 5 - Chris Rackauckas | Neural Differential Equations: PINNs + classical solvers | |
| 12 | 11/07/2025 | Lecture - Pedro Paulo | Neural operators (FNO, Galerkin Transformer); large-scale surrogates | |
| 13 | 11/14/2025 | External seminar 6 - Charlelie Laurent | Scalable PINNs / neural operators; CFD & weather applications | |
| 14 | 11/21/2025 | Lecture - TBD | TBD from the pool |
If there are more students than slots, we will select from the following topics for recorded lectures. Students must provide materials equivalent to those used in an in-person session.
| # | Format / Presenter | Topic & Learning Goals | Prep / Key Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 | Lecture - TBD | Quaternions, Lie groups, and Lie algebras; attitude control; LQR with Attitude, Quadrotors; | |
| 16 | Lecture - TBD | Stochastic optimal control, Linear Quadratic Gaussian (LQG), Kalman filtering, robust control under uncertainty, unscented optimal control; | |
| 17 | Lecture - TBD | Trajectory Optimization with Obstacles; Convexification of Non-Convex Constraints; | |
| 18 | Lecture - TBD | Robust control & min-max DDP (incl. PDE cases); chance constraints; Data-driven control & Model-Based RL-in-the-loop | |
| 19 | Lecture - TBD | Contact Explict and Contact Implicit; Trajectory Optimization for Hybrid and Composed Systems; | |
| 20 | Lecture - TBD | Probabilistic Programming; Bayesian numerical methods; Variational Inference; probabilistic solvers for ODEs/PDEs; Bayesian optimization in control; | |
| 21 | Lecture - TBD | Distributed optimal control & multi-agent coordination; Consensus, distributed MPC, and optimization over graphs (ADMM). | |
| 22 | Lecture - TBD | Dynamic Optimal Control of Power Systems; Generators swing equations, Transmission lines electromagnetic transients, dynamic load models, and inverters. |
- https://optimalcontrol.ri.cmu.edu/
- https://github.com/SciML/SciMLBook
- https://underactuated.mit.edu/
- https://www.math.lmu.de/~philip/publications/lectureNotes/philipPeter_OptimalControlOfPDE.pdf
- https://castle.princeton.edu/sda/
- https://www.mit.edu/~dimitrib/dpbook.html
Repository maintained by the 2025 cohort.
Feel free to open issues or pull requests for corrections and improvements.