Curriculum Vitae

Contact Information

Education

• B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, 1975.
• M.S. in Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 1977.
• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 1980.

Teaching and Research Positions

• Teaching Assistant, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Illinois, 9/75-12/76.
• Research Assistant, Decision and Control Laboratory, Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois, 1/77-6/80.
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Toronto, 7/80-6/84.
• Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, 7/84-7/89.
• Associate Professor (with tenure), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, 7/89-present.

Research Interests

• analog and digital control theory
• robust control of high bandwidth systems
• singular perturbation theory
• singular dynamical systems

Memberships

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (Control Systems Society)
• Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics

Professional Activities

• Session Chair, 22nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, San Antonio, December 1983.
• Session Co-organizer and Chair, 23rd Conference on Decision and Control, Las Vegas, December 1984.
• Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 1986-1990.
• Session Co-chairman, 1988 American Control Conference, Atlanta, June 1988.
• Session Chair, 28th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Tampa, December 1989.
• Initiation Grant Review Panel Member, Division of Electrical and Communications Systems, National Science Foundation, Washington, DC, March 1990.
• Program Committee Member, 1990 American Control Conference, San Diego, May 1990.
• Associate Chair for Graduate Activities, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, July 1990-June 1994.
• UW Faculty Senator, 1990-1992.
• Program Committee Member, 29th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Honolulu, December 1990.
• Physical Sciences Division Fellowship Committee Member, University of Wisconsin, September 1991-August 1993.
• Publications Chair, 1992 American Control Conference, Chicago, June 1992.
• Vice-Chair for Short Papers, 32nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, San Antonio, December 1993.
• Chair, Physical Sciences Division Fellowship Committee, University of Wisconsin, 1993-1994.
• UW Faculty Senator, 1994-1996.
• Grant Review Panel Member, Combined Research-Curriculum Development Program, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA, July 1999.
• Associate Chair for Undergraduate Activities, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin, July 2001-present.
• UW College of Engineering Academic Planning and Curriculum Revision Committee Member, July 2001-June 2005.
• UW Campus Transportation Committee Member, September 2003-present.
• Chair, UW Bicycle/Pedestrian Subcommittee, September 2003-present.

Journal Papers

• J. D. Cobb, "Feedback and Pole Placement in Descriptor Variable Systems," International Journal of Control, Vol. 33, No. 6, 1981, 1135-1146.
• J. D. Cobb, "On the Solutions of Linear Differential Equations with Singular Coefficients," Journal of Differential Equations, Vol. 46, No. 3, December 1982, 310-323.
• J. D. Cobb, "Descriptor Variable Systems and Optimal State Regulation," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 28, No. 5, May 1983, 601-611.
• J. D. Cobb, "A Further Interpretation of Inconsistent Initial Conditions in Descriptor Variable Systems," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 28, No. 9, September 1983, 920-922.
• J. D. Cobb, "Controllability, Observability, and Duality in Singular Systems," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 29, No. 12, December 1984, 1076-1082.
• J. D. Cobb, "On the Topology of Spaces of Controllable and Observable Systems," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 31, No. 6, June 1986, 557-559.
• J. D. Cobb, "Fundamental Properties of the Manifold of Singular and Regular Systems," Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Vol. 120, November 1986, 328-353.
• J. D. Cobb, "Global Analyticity of a Geometric Decomposition for Linear Singularly Perturbed Systems," Circuits, Systems, and Signal Processing--special issue on semistate systems, Vol. 5, No. 1, 1986, 139-152.
• J. D. Cobb, "Robust Stabilization Relative to the Unweighted H-infinity Norm is Generically Unattainable in the Presence of Singular Plant Perturbations," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 32, January 1987, 51-53.
• J. D. Cobb, "Linear Compensator Designs Based Exclusively on Input-Output Information Are Never Robust with Respect to Unmodeled Dynamics," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 33, No. 6, June 1988, 559-563.
• J. D. Cobb, "Toward a Theory of Robust Compensation for Systems with Unknown Parasitics," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, December 1988, 1130-1138.
• J. D. Cobb, "Topological Aspects of Controllability and Observability on the Manifold of Singular and Regular Systems," Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Vol. 138, No. 1, February 1989, 21-42.
• J. D. Cobb, C. L. DeMarco, "The Minimal Dimension of Stable Faces Required to Guarantee Stability of a Matrix Polytope," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, September 1989, 990-992.
• J. D. Cobb, "The Minimal Dimension of Stable Faces Required to Guarantee Stability of a Matrix Polytope: D-Stability," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, April 1990, 469-473.
• Tan Mingde, J. D. Cobb, "A Realization Theory for Perturbed Linear Systems," Journal of Mathematical Analysis and Applications, Vol.187, No.1, October, 1994, 169-195.
• J. D. Cobb, "A Unified Theory of Full-Order and Low-Order Observers via Singular System Theory," IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, December 1994.
• C.-J. Wang, J. D. Cobb, "A Characterization of Bounded-Input Bounded-Output Stability for Linear Time-Invariant Systems with Distributional Inputs," SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, Vol. 34, No. 3, May 1996, 987-1000.
• C.-J. Wang, J. D. Cobb, "A Characterization of Bounded-Input Bounded-Output Stability for Linear Time-Varying Systems with Distributional Inputs," SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, Vol. 42, No. 4, 2004, 1222-1243.
• J. D. Cobb, "State Feedback Impulse Elimination for Singular Systems over a Hermite Domain," SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, Vol. 44, No. 6, 2006, 2189-2209.
• J. D. Cobb, J. Eapen, "High-Gain State Feedback Analysis Based on Singular System Theory," SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, Vol. 44, No. 6, 2006, 2210-2232.

Conference Papers

• J. D. Cobb, T. N. Trick, "Small-signal Third-order Distortion Analysis of Transistor Amplifiers," Proceedings of the 14th Annual Allerton Conference on Circuit and System Theory, Monticello, October 1976, 1042-1051.
• J. D. Cobb, "Observability and Impulse Observers in Descriptor Variable Systems," Proceedings of the 20th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Monticello, October 1982, 825-833.
• J. D. Cobb, "Structurally Stable Feedback Control of Singular Systems," Proceedings of the 21st Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Monticello, October 1983, 816-818.
• J. D. Cobb, "Slow and Fast Stability in Singular Systems," Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Las Vegas, December 1984, 280-282.
• J. D. Cobb, "Robust Compensator Design Based on Input-Output Information," Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Monticello, October 1985, 908-910.
• J. D. Cobb, "On the Robustness of Compensator Designs Based Exclusively on Input-Output Information," Proceedings of the 24th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Fort Lauderdale, December 1985, 689-692.
• J. D. Cobb, "The Inadequacy of Input-Output Information in Robust Compensator Design," Proceedings of the 24th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Monticello, October 1986, 899-900.
• J. D. Cobb, "An Explicit Characterization of Destabilizing Phenomena for an Arbitrary Control System," Proceedings of the 26th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Los Angeles, December 1987.
• J. D. Cobb, "Conditions for Existence of an Optimal Control in the LQ Regulator Problem for Singular Systems," Proceedings of the Twenty-Fifth Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Monticello, October 1987.
• Tan Mingde, J. D. Cobb, "A Realization Theory for Perturbed Singular Systems," International Symposium on the Mathematical Theory of Networks and Systems, Phoenix, June 1987, in Linear Circuits, Systems, and Signal Processing: Theory and Application, North Holland, 1988, 265-270.
• J. D. Cobb, C. L. DeMarco, "The Minimal Dimension of Stable Faces Required to Guarantee Stability of a Matrix Polytope," Proceedings of the 1988 American Control Conference, Atlanta, June 1988, 818-819.
• J. D. Cobb, "The Minimal Dimension of Stable Faces Required to Guarantee Stability of Matrix Polytopes: D-Stability," Proceedings of the 27th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Austin, December 1988.
• J. D. Cobb, "A Geometric Decomposition Theorem for Singularly Perturbed Systems with Applications to Convergence of Solutions," SIAM Conference on Control in the 90's, San Francisco, May 1989.
• N. Safari-Shad, J. D. Cobb, "A Lyapunov-Based Proof of the Quadratic Separation Principle for Systems with Noise-Free Measurements," Proceedings of the 1992 American Control Conference, Chicago, June 1992.
• J. D. Cobb, "On Realization Theory for Generalized State-Space Systems over a Commutative Ring," in Linear Algebra for Control Theory, Institute for Mathematics and its Applications 62, Van Dooren and Wyman eds., Springer Verlag, 1994.
• N. Safari-Shad, J. D. Cobb, "On a Deterministic Least Squares Estimation Theory for LTI Systems," Proceedings of the Iranian Confonference on Electrical Engineering, Tehran, May 1995.
• J. Shafii, J. D. Cobb, R. J. Vernon, "Optimal Design of Overmoded Waveguide Tapers Using the Pontryagin Minimum Principle with Application to TE0n Circular Waveguide Taper Designs," Proceedings of the Twentieth International Conference on Infrared and Millimeter Waves, Orlando, December 1995.
• J. D. Cobb, "Feedback Analysis for Non-Strictly-Proper Systems," Proceedings of the 2001 American Control Conference, Arlington, VA, June 2001.
• J. D. Cobb, "A Necessary and Sufficient Condition for High-Frequency Robustness of Non-Strictly-Proper Feedback Systems," Proceedings of the 40th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Orlando, FL, December 2001.
• J. D. Cobb, "State Feedback Impulse Elimination for Singular Systems over a Hermite Domain," Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, San Diego, CA, December 2006.
• J. D. Cobb, J. Eapen, "High-Gain State Feedback Analysis Based on Singular System Theory," Proceedings of the 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, San Diego, CA, December 2006.

External Research Grants

• "Theory and Application of Descriptor-Variable Systems," National Research Council-Canada, J. D. Cobb PI, $10,500, 4/82-3/83.
• "Singular System Theory and Applications," National Research Council-Canada, J. D. Cobb PI, $11,448, 4/83-3/84.
• "Theory and Applications of Singular Systems, National Research Council-Canada, J. D. Cobb PI, $13,200, 4/84-3/87.
• "The Robust Hurwitz Design Problem," National Science Foundation, B. R. Barmish and J. D. Cobb Co-PI, $210,000, 9/86-8/89.
• "The Role of Internal Structural Information in the Design of Robust Compensators with Respect to Unmodeled Dynamics," Air Force Office of Scientific Research, J. D. Cobb PI, $94,300, 1/88-12/89.
• "The Control of Time-Varying Singular Systems: Theory and Application," National Science Foundation, J. D. Cobb PI, $124,377, 9/90-8/93.
• "Robust Feedback Control of Improper Systems", National Science Foundation, J. D. Cobb PI, $302,410, 10/97-9/1.

Invited Lectures

• "Optimal Regulation of Singular Systems," Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Waterloo, April 1981.
• "Structurally Stable Feedback Control of Singular Systems," Department of Systems Science and Mathematics, Washington University, October 1983.
• "A Tutorial on Singular Systems," Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, June 1984.
• "Recent Developments in the Theory of Robust Systems with Unknown Parasitics," MIPAC group, Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, December 1985.
• "The Role of Internal Structural Information in the Robust Compensation of Systems with Unmodeled Dynamics," Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois, November 1986.
• "The Minimal Dimension of Stable Faces Required to Guarantee Stability of a Matrix Polytope," Coordinated Science Laboratory, University of Illinois, March 1988.
• "A Time-Domain Approach to Robust Stabilization for Systems with Unmodeled Dynamics," Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Minnesota, March 1989.
• "The Minimal Dimension of Stable Faces Required to Guarantee Stability of a Matrix Polytope," Department of Electrical Engineering, Washington State University, April 1990.
• "The Minimal Dimension of Stable Faces Required to Guarantee Stability of a Matrix Polytope," Department of Mathematics, University of Wisconsin, November 1992.
• "Stability Analysis of Systems with Non-Strictly-Proper Loop Gain," Decision and Control Laboratory, University of Illinois, September 1999.

Graduate Students

• Lazar Fekih-Ahmed, M.S., December 1986.
  Thesis Title: Application of Singular Perturbation Methods to Robust Compensator Design
• Qian Feng, M.S., December 1988.
  Thesis Title: Linear Time-Varying Control Systems
• Tan Mingde, Ph.D., May 1990.
  Thesis Title: Internal Robust Stability of Perturbed Linear Systems
• Chi-Jo Wang, M.S., December 1990.
  Thesis Title: Ripple-Free Deadbeat Control for Sampled-Data Systems with Multirate Sampling Output Feedback and Generalized Sampled-Data Hold Functions
• Nader Safari-Shad, Ph.D., December 1992.
  Thesis Title: Deterministic L2/H2 Optimization of Linear Dynamical Systems
• Kiana Rafienejad, M.S., May 1993.
  Thesis Title: Two Applications of the Standard Canonical Form for Singular Time-Varying Linear Systems
• Chi-Jo Wang, Ph.D., August 1994.
  Thesis Title: Stability and Control of Singular Time-Varying Systems
• Jacob Eapen, Ph.D., in progress.
  
• Kaihung Yam, Ph.D., in progress.
  
• Roengrut Rujanakraikarn, Ph.D., in progress.