Thomas A. Badgwell, P.E.

Biography

Thomas A. Badgwell (Tom) received a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Rice University in 1982. For the next six years he worked as a process control consultant with SETPOINT Inc. in Houston, designing and implementing advanced control systems for petrochemical processes. Tom specialized in the development of model predictive control (MPC) technology, with applications to refinery reactor systems including cat crackers, hydrocrackers and reformers.

Tom entered the graduate program at The University of Texas at Austin (U.T.) in 1988, receiving an M.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1990 and a Ph.D. degree in 1992. His graduate research project at U.T., directed by Professors Edgar and Trachtenberg, involved modeling and optimization of a multiwafer LPCVD reactor used in the manufacture of integrated circuits.

Tom joined the chemical enginreering faculty at Rice University in the fall of 1993, after working eight months with Fisher/Rosemount and teaching part-time at The University of Texas. His research program at Rice focused on mathematical modeling of chemical processes with applications in diamond chemical vapor deposition and process control.

Tom returned to industry in 1999, joining Aspen Technology as a Senior Consultant. He currently holds the position of Senior Technologist, and is responsible for developing new technology for process optimization and control products.

Tom has been a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers since 1982, and served on the Board of the local South Texas Section in 1994. He has been a registered professional engineer in Texas since 1987 and is also a member of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American Assosciation for the Advancement of Science. Tom is also a member of the Tau Beta Pi and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies.

Tom enjoys spending his spare time with his wife Donna and fourteen year old daughter Susan. His hobbies include reading science books, listening to classical music, web surfing, shooting pool and flying airplanes.

Conference Publications

1. Sameer Ralhan and T.A. Badgwell, "Robust Output Disturbance Rejection for Stable Systems," 2000 American Control Conference (ACC), Chicago, Illinois, June 28-30, (2000).
2. Sameer Ralhan and T.A. Badgwell, "Robust Disturbance Rejection for FIR Systems with Bounded Parameters," 2000 International Symposium on Advanced Control of Chemical Processes (ADCHEM), Pisa, Italy, June 14-16, (2000).
3. Dean Kassmann and T.A. Badgwell, "Robust Steady-State Targets for Model Predictive Control," 2000 International Symposium on Advanced Control of Chemical Processes (ADCHEM), Pisa, Italy, June 14-16, (2000).
4. Frank Allgöwer, Thomas A. Badgwell, Joe S. Qin, James B. Rawlings, and Stephen J.Wright, "Nonlinear Predictive Control and Moving Horizon Estimation Ì An Introductory Overview," In Advances in Control, Highlights of ECCÐ99, Paul M. Frank, ed., Springer, 391-449, (1999).
5. Qin, S.J., and T.A. Badgwell, "An Overview of Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Applications," In Frank Allgöwer and Alex Zheng, editors, Nonlinear Model Predictive Control. Birkhäuser,(1999).
6. Qin, S.J., and T. A. Badgwell, "An Overview of Industrial Model Predictive Control Technology," in Fifth International Conference on Chemical Process Control, AIChE Symposium Series 316, 93, Jeffrey C. Kantor, Carlos E. Garcia, and Brice Carnahan, eds., 232-256, (1997).
7. T.A. Badgwell, "A Robust Model Predictive Control Algorithm for Stable, Nonlinear Plants," 1997 International Symposium on Advanced Control of Chemical Processes (ADCHEM), Banff, Canada, June 11, (1997).
8. T.A. Badgwell, "A Robust Model Predictive Control Algorithm for Stable, Linear Plants," 1997 American Control Conference (ACC), Albuquerque, New Mexico, June 5, (1997).

Research Dissertations

1. Raymond Joe, "Characterizing Growth Conditions in Chlorine-Activated Diamond Chemical Vapor Deposition," Ph.D. thesis, Rice University, (2000).
2. Sameer Ralhan, "Robust Model Predictive Control of Stable Linear and Integrating Systems," Ph.D. thesis, Rice University, (1999).
3. Dean Kassmann, "Robust Model Predictive Control as a Class of Semi-Infinite Programming Problems," Ph.D. thesis, Rice University, (1999).
4. Linda Williams, " Modeling and Optimization of a Two-Stage Regenerator Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit," Ph.D. thesis, Rice University, (1998).
5. Sameer Ralhan, " Robust Model Predictive Control of Linear Finite Impulse Response Plants," Master's Thesis, Rice University, (1998).

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