Professor Peter Seiler Honored with Russell J. Penrose Faculty Fellow
The Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics has appointed Professor Peter Seiler as the next Russell J. Penrose Faculty Fellow.
Prof. Seiler has been with the University of Minnesota for 11 years. He started as a Senior Research Associate and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016.
His research focuses on advanced control techniques for wind turbines, unmanned aircraft, and hard disk drives. He works on developing tools to analyze the effect of model uncertainty and nonlinearities on system performance. Prof. Seiler is also applying his research to make wind energy more reliable and reduce the cost of wind energy.
The Russell J. Penrose Faculty Fellow, established on Oct. 9, 1990, is a generous gift from University of Minnesota alumnus, Russell J. Penrose. The fellow is awarded to “obtain and retain distinguished faculty who are outstanding in their teaching and research capabilities.” It is also a financial resource in recognition of successful research and outstanding contributions to the field and the department.
Prof. Seiler intends to use the Penrose Faculty Fellow to continue his current research as well as pursue a new area in robustness issues associated with data-driven (machine-learning) control methods. Prof. Seiler said, “I’d like to acknowledge everyone in the department. They’ve been supportive from the beginning of my career and I’ve had many valuable interactions. It’s truly been a privilege to be a faculty member in AEM.”
In November 2018, Seiler was awarded the Medal for the Development of the Hungarian Aeronautical Sciences for his collaboration with Professor Jozsef Bokor and Dr. Balint Vanek from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Prof. Seiler collaborated with Prof. Bokor and Dr. Vanek on the design and control of flexible aircraft for improved fuel efficiency.
Previous recipients of the Russell J. Penrose Faculty Fellow are Ryan Elliott and Thomas Schwartzentruber.
The department congratulates Professor Seiler on this honor and looks forward to his future contributions.