Petar Kokotovic Distinguished Lecturer 2017: Fabio Fagnani

               The Center for Control, Dynamical-Systems and Computation proudly hosted guest Fabio Fagnani, Professor of Mathematical Analysis from DISMA Politecnico di Torino, as the 2017 Petar Kokotović Distingished Visiting Professor. Prof. Fagnani visited the Center during the weeks of Monday May 8th and Monday May 15th. He delivered a four-part mini-course on his research and educational work entitled “Centrality, Influence, Consensus and Polarization in Network Models.”  The four talks were scheduled as follows:

                Thursday, May 11th at 11:00am in Harold Frank Hall 1132 – “Centrality, Influence, Consensus and Polarization in Network Models.”
                Friday, May 12th at 3:00pm in Webb 1100 – “From opinion dynamics to randomized network algorithms”
                Tuesday, May 16th at 11:00am in Harold Frank Hall 1132 – “Fragility and resilience in centrality and consensus models"
                Wednesday, May 17th at 11:00am in Harold Frank Hall 1132 – “When consensus breaks down: influential nodes, dissensus, and polarization.”

               The mini-course brilliantly surveyed a modern and exciting research field closely related to research topics of interest to many graduate students. There was a large attendance at each seminar, including faculty and students from the Computer Science, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering departments. Professor Petar Kokotović also attended the seminars and met personally with Fabio to congratulate him and recognize his manifold contributions to the field. Multiple one-on-one meetings with Prof. Fagnani were also highly beneficial for students interested in his field of study and are likely to result in research paper submissions.

               Finally, an informal reception was held on Thursday, May 18th at the Mosher Alumni Hall Sky Terrace to thank Prof. Fagnani for his kind visit and for such an interesting and beneficial mini-course. Faculty and students from all of the above mentioned departments came, as well as Fabio’s wife, Petar Kokotović and his wife Anna, and some of his friends and former colleagues. This event served as a great opportunity to celebrate the legacy of Prof. Kokotović and his contributions to the Controls field.