The Grainger College of Engineering

Carolyn L Beck

Carolyn L Beck
Carolyn L Beck
  • Professor
(217) 244-9714
159 Coordinated Science Lab

For More Information

Education

  • Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, California Institute of Technology
  • M.S. Electrical & Computer Eng., Carnegie Mellon University
  • B.S. Electrical & Computer Eng., (Physics minor), California State Polytechnic University

Academic Positions

  • Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs, Dept. of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, 8/20-present
  • Visiting Associate Professor, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, 4/13-7/13
  • Visiting Associate Professor, Stanford University, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 7/05-7/06
  • Affiliate, University of Illinois, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 7/14-present
  • Affiliate, University of Illinois, Dept. of Mechanical Science and Engineering (formerly Mechanical and Industrial Engineering), 8/99-present
  • Research Professor, University of Illinois, Coordinated Science Laboratory, 8/19-present
  • Research Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Coordinated Science Laboratory, 6/04-8/19
  • Associate Head for Graduate Studies, University of Illinois, Dept. of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, 8/06-8/10
  • Professor, University of Illinois, Dept. of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering, 8/19-present
  • Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Dept. of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering (formerly General Engineering), 8/04-8/19
  • Assistant Professor, University of Illinois, Dept. of General Engineering, 8/99-8/04
  • Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, 9/96-7/99
  • Postdoctoral Associate, Lund Institute of Technology, Automatic Control, Sweden, 1/96-6/96

Other Professional Employment

  • Research and Development Eng., Hewlett-Packard, Santa Clara, CA, 12/1985-9/1989

Resident Instruction

  • IE 529 Statistics of Data and Clustering
  • SE 520 Analysis of Nonlinear Systems (also ECE 528/MechSE 546)
  • SE 524 Data-Based Modeling and Identification (System identification)
  • SE 424 State Space Design Methods in Control
  • SE 320 Control Systems
  • IE 300 Analysis of Data

Research Interests

  • Control and optimization; Epidemic processes over networks; Network inference; Dynamic network data clustering and aggregation; Model approximation and reduction for the purpose of control and system analysis; Mathematical systems theory; Applications in bioengineering, networks and graphs.

Research Areas

  • Data Analytics
  • Decision and Control Systems
  • Social, Human, and Engineering Systems

Selected Articles in Journals

  • H. Liu, S. Bose, H.D. Nguyen, Y. Guo, T.T. Doan, C. L. Beck. Distributed Dual Subgradient Methods with Averaging and Applications to Grid Optimization. Accepted, Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, January 2024.
  • S. Gracy, P. Pare', J. Liu, H. Sandberg, C. L. Beck, K. H. Johansson and T. Basar. Modeling and Analysis of a Coupled SIS Bi-Virus Model. Accepted, Automatica, March 2024.
  • X. Xie, D. Katselis, C. L. Beck, R. Srikant. Finite Sample Analysis for Structured Discrete System Identification. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol 68, No 10, October, 2023
  • X. Xie, D. Katselis, C. L. Beck and R. Srikant. On the Consistency of Maximum Likelihood Estimators for Causal Network Identification. IEEE Control Systems Letters (L-CSS), Vol. 6, 175-180, 2022
  • M. Baranwal, L. Marla, S. M. Salapaka, and C.L. Beck. A Unified Maximum Entropy Principled Approach for a Large Class of Routing Problems. Computers and Industrial Engineering, Vol. 171, 2022
  • L. Buccafusca and C. L. Beck. Multiobjective Model Predictive Control for Wind Turbines. Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy, Vol 13, Issue 3, 2021 (highlighted as Editor's Pick)
  • D. Katselis, X. Xie, C.L. Beck and R. Srikant. On Concentration Inequalities for Vector-Valued Lipschitz Functions. Statistics and Probability Letters, Vol. 173, 2021 (online)
  • P. Pare', J. Liu, C. L. Beck, A. Nedic and T. Basar. Multi-Competitive Viruses over Time-Varying Networks with Mutations and Human Awareness, Automatica, Vol. 123, 2021
  • P. Pare', C.L. Beck and T. Basar. Modeling, Estimation, and Analysis of Epidemics over Networks: An Overview. Annual Reviews in Control, Vol. 50, 345-360, November, 2020.
  • T. T. Doan and C. L. Beck. Distributed Resource Allocation Over Dynamic Networks with Uncertainty. Accepted, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 2020
  • P. Pare', J. Liu, C. L. Beck, B. Kirwan, T. Basar. Analysis, Estimation and Validation of Discrete-time Epidemic Processes. IEEE Transactions on Control System Technology, Vol. 28, No. 1, 2020, DOI: 10.1109/TCST.2018.2869369.
  • J. Liu, P. Pare', A. Nedic, C. Y. Tang, C. L. Beck and T. Basar. Analysis and Control of a Continuous-time Bi-Virus Model. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 64 (12), 4891-4906, 2019. DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2019.2898515
  • T. T. Doan, S. Bose, D. H. Nguyen and C.L. Beck. Convergence of the Iterates in Mirror Descent Methods. IEEE Control Systems Letters, Vol 3, Issue 1; DOI: 10.1109/LCSYS.2018.2854889, 2019.
  • D. Katselis, C. Beck and R. Srikant. Mixing Times and Structural Inference for Bernoulli Autoregressive Processes. IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2019 (Longer version available at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1612.06061.pdf).
  • S. Bhatti, C. L. Beck and A. Nedich. Data Clustering and Graph Partitioning via Simulated Mixing. IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, Vol. 6, No. 3, 2019 (Preliminary version available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.04918).
  • P. Pare', C. L. Beck and A. Nedich. Epidemic Processes over Time-Varying Networks. IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, Vol. 5, No. 3, 1322-1334, 2018. DOI: 10.1109/TCNS.2017.2706138.
  • T. Doan, C. L. Beck and R. Srikant. On the Convergence Rate of Distributed Gradient Methods for Finite Sum Optimization Under Communication Delays. Proceedings of the ACM on Measurement and Analysis of Computing Systems - SIGMETRICS: Volume 1 Issue 2, December 2017.
  • C. Jayaraman, J. Sosnoff and C. L. Beck. Shoulder Pain and Trunk Kinematics in Manual Wheelchair Propulsion. Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 97, No. 10, 2016.
  • C. Jayaraman, C. L. Beck and J. Sosnoff. Shoulder pain and jerk during recovery phase of manual wheelchair propulsion. Journal of Biomechanics, Vol 48, Issue 14, pages 3937-3944, November 2015.
  • E. Kharisov, C. L. Beck, and M. Bloom. Design of L1-Adaptive Controllers for Human Response to Anesthesia. Control Engineering Practice, Vol 44, pages 65-77, November 2015.
  • C. L. Beck. Modeling and Control of Pharmacodynamics. European Control Journal, Vol 24, pages 33-49, July 2015.
  • D. Katselis, C. Rojas, B. I. Godoy, J. C. Aguero, and C. L. Beck. On the End-Performance Metric Estimator Selection. Automatica, Vol 58, pages 22-27, 2015 (Preliminary version available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.07238).
  • Farhood, M., and C.L. Beck. On the Balanced Truncation and Coprime Factors Reduction of Markovian Jump Linear Systems, Systems & Control Letters, Volume 64, Pages 96-106, February 2014. DOI: 10.1016/j.sysconle.2013.12.004
  • Jiang, C., C. L. Beck and R. Srikant. Bidding with Limited Statistical Knowledge in Online Auctions. ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Volume 41 Issue 4, March 2014.
  • Xu, Y., S. Salapaka, and C. L. Beck. Clustering and Coverage Control for Systems with Acceleration-Driven Dynamics. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, May, 2014, Volume: 59 Issue: 5. DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2013.2292726
  • Xu, Yunwen, S. Salapaka, and C. L. Beck. Aggregation of Graph Models and Markov Chains by Deterministic Annealing. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, Oct. 2014, Volume:59 Issue:10. DOI: 10.1109/TAC.2014.2319473
  • Chandrasekaran, J., Yaejin Moon, I. M. Rice; E. T. Hsiao-Wecksler, C. L Beck, J. Sosnoff. Shoulder pain and cycle to cycle kinematic spatial variability during recovery phase in manual wheelchair users: A pilot investigation, PLoS ONE, March 2014. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0089794.
  • Beck, C. L., and R. Srikant. Error Bounds for Constant Step-size Q-learning. Systems & Control Letters, 61(12): 1203-1208, 2012.
  • Sharma, P., S. Salapaka, and C. L. Beck. Entropy-based Framework for Dynamic Coverage and Clustering Problems. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, 56(1): 135-150, 2012.
  • Lakshmikantha, A., R. Srikant and C. L. Beck. Impact of File Arrivals and Departures on Buffer Sizing in Core Routers. IEEE Trans. on Networking, 19(2): 347-58, 2010.
  • Lakshmikantha, A., R. Srikant, and C. L. Beck. Differential Equations Models of Flow-size Based Priorities in Internet Routers. International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications. 2(1/2/3): 170-196, 2010.
  • Lakshmikantha, A., R. Srikant, N. Dukkipati, N. McKeown and C. L. Beck. Buffer sizing results for RCP congestion control under connection arrivals and departures. ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review, 39(1): 5-15, 2009.
  • Sharma, P., S. Salapaka, and C. L. Beck. A Scalable Approach to Combinatorial Library Design for Drug Discovery. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 48(1): 27-41, 2007.
  • Beck, C. L. Coprime Factors Reduction Algorithms for Linear Parameter Varying and Uncertain Systems. Systems and Control Letters, 55(3):199-213, 2006.
  • Farhood, M. Beck, C.L., and Dullerud, G., Model Reduction of Periodic Systems: A Lifting Approach. Automatica, 41(6):1085-1090, 2005.
  • Lakshmikantha, A., C.L. Beck, and R. Srikant, Robustness of Real and Virtual Queue-based Active Queue Management Schemes. IEEE Trans. on Networking, 13(1): 81-93, 2005.
  • Lin, H. H., Beck, C. L., and Bloom, M., On the Use of Hybrid Multivariable Models for Predicting Human Response to Anesthesia. IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Engineering, 51(11):1876-1887, 2004.
  • Beck, C. L. and R. D'Andrea. Noncomuting Multi-Dimensional System Realization Theory: Minimality, Reachability and Observability. IEEE Trans. On Automatic Control, 49(10):1815-1822, 2004.
  • Lall, S. and C. L. Beck. Guaranteed Error Bounds for Model Reduction of Linear Time-Varying Systems. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, 48(6):946-956,2003.
  • Beck, C. L. On Formal Power Series Representations for Uncertain Systems. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, 46(2):314-319, 2001.
  • Beck, C. L. and J. Doyle. A Necessary and Sufficient Minimality Condition for Uncertain Systems. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, 44(10):1802-1813,1999.
  • Bendotti, P. and C. L. Beck. On the Role of LFT Model Reduction Methods in Robust Controller Synthesis for a Pressurized Water Reactor. IEEE Trans. on Controls Systems Technology, 7(3):248-257, 1999.
  • Andersson, L., A. Rantzer, and C. L. Beck. Model Comparison and Simplification using IQCs. Int. Journal of Nonlinear and Robust Control, 9(2):157-181,1999.
  • Beck, C. L, J. Doyle, and K. Glover. Model Reduction of Multi-Dimensional and Uncertain Systems. IEEE Trans. on Automatic Control, 41(10):1466-1477, 1996.

Articles in Conference Proceedings

  • Beck, C. L., S. Lall, T. Liang and M. West. Model reduction, optimal prediction, and the Mori-Zwanzig representation of Markov chains, Proceedings of the IEEE CDC, Shanghai, China 2009.
  • Beck, C.L., and R. Srikant. Improved Upper Bounds on the Expected Error in Constant Step-size Q-Learning. Proceedings of the ACC, Washington DC, June 2013.
  • E. A. Hernandez-Vargas , A. H. González, C.L. Beck, X. Bi, F. C. Campana, G. Giordano. Modelling and Control of Epidemics across Scales. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control 2022
  • L. Buccafusca and C. L. Beck. Maximizing Power in Wind Turbine Arrays with Variable Wind Dynamics. In the Proceedings of the IEEE CDC, Miami, Florida, 2018.
  • L. Buccafusca and C.L. Beck, Cooperative Control of Wind Farms under Maintenance Constraints. Proceedings of the Conference on Control Technology and Applications, 2022
  • L. Buccafusca, J.P. Jansch-Porto, G.E. Dullerud, C.L. Beck. An Application of Nested Control Synthesis for Wind Farms. Proceedings of the 8th IFAC Workshop on Distributed Estimation and Control in Networked Systems (NecSys), 2019. Available at IFAC-PapersOnLine 52 (20), 199-204.
  • M. Baranwal, P. M. Parekh, L. Marla, S. M. Salapaka, and C.L. Beck. Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows: A Deterministic Annealing Approach. In Proceedings of the ACC, Boston, MA July 2016. (Preliminary version available at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1604.03590.pdf).
  • P. Pare', C. L. Beck and A. Nedic. Stability Analysis and Control of Virus Spread over Time-Varying Networks. Proceedings of the IEEE CDC, Osaka, Japan, 2015.
  • P. Pare', Ji Liu, Carolyn L. Beck, Angelia Nedich, Tamer Basar. Multi-Competitive Viruses over Static and Time--Varying Networks. In Proceedings ACC, 2017. (Longer version available at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1702.07754.pdf).
  • Philip E. Pare', Justin M. McGrath, Berkley James Walker and C. L. Beck. Modeling and Accelerated CO_2 Control for Photosynthesis Measurements. In the Proceedings of the CCTA. 2017.
  • Philip Pare', Ji Liu, Carolyn L. Beck, Tamer Basar. Networked Infectious Disease-Contaminated Water Model. In the Proceedings of the European Control Conference (ECC), Naples, Italy, 2019.
  • R. Soleymanifar and C. L. Beck, RCP: A Temporal Clustering Algorithm for Real-time Controller Placement in Mobile SDN Systems. Proceedings of the American Control Conference, 2022
  • S. Bhatti, C. L. Beck and A. Nedich. Large Scale Data Clustering and Graph Partitioning via Simulated Mixing. In Proceedings of the IEEE CDC, Las Vegas, NV 2016.
  • S. T. Kong, D. Katselis, C. L. Beck and R Srikant. Structure Identification in Layered Precedence Networks. In the Proceedings of the CCTA. 2017.
  • T. Doan and C. L. Beck. Distributed Lagrangian Methods for Network Resource Allocation. In the Proceedings of the Conference on Control Technology and Applications (CCTA). (Preliminary version available at https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.06287). 2017.
  • T. Doan, S. Bose and C. L. Beck. Distributed Lagrangian Methods for Tie-Line Scheduling in Power Grids under Uncertainty. In the Proceedings for Greenmetrics Workshop, a part of the ACM Sigmetrics Conference, June 2017.
  • Thinh T. Doan, Carolyn L. Beck, R Srikant. Convergence Rate of Distributed Subgradient Methods under Communication Delays. In the Proceedings of the ACC, 2018.
  • Thinh T. Doan, Joseph Lubars, Carolyn L. Beck, R. Srikant. Convergence Rate of Distributed Random Projections. Proceedings of the 7th IFAC Workshop on Distributed Estimation and Control in Networked Systems (NecSys), August 2018.
  • X. Bi and C. L. Beck. On the Role of Asymptomatic Carriers in Epidemic Spread Processes. Proceedings of the American Control Conference, 2021
  • X. Bi, E. Miehling, C.L. Beck and T. Basar. Approximate Testing in Uncertain Epidemic Processes. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2022
  • X. Xie, D. Katselis, C. L. Beck, R Srikant. On the Consistency of Maximum Likelihood Estimators for Causal Network Identification. Proceedings of the 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, South Korea, 2020.
  • Xu, Y., S. Salapaka, C. L. Beck. On Reduction of Graphs and Markov Chain Models - A Maximum Entropy Principle Approach. Proceedings of the IEEE CDC, Florida, 2011.
  • Xu, Yunwen, S. Salapaka, and C. L. Beck. A Distance Metric between Directed Weighted Graphs. Proceedings of the IEEE CDC, 2013.
  • Y. Xu, C.L. Beck and S. Salapaka. Aggregation of Markov Chains: an Analysis of Deterministic Annealing Based Methods. Proceedings of the IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2014, Los Angeles, California.

Journal Editorships

  • Guest Editor, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, Special Issue on "Mathematical Modeling, Analysis and Control of Epidemics," 2020-21
  • Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, July 2019- December 2022
  • Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, October 2005 – December 2008.

Professional Societies

  • President-Elect, IEEE Control Systems Society, 2024
  • General Chair, American Control Conference, 2025
  • Alternate Representative for IEEE to the Board of Directors American Automatic Control Council 2023-24
  • Vice President for Conference Activities, IEEE Control Systems Society Executive Committee, January 2022- December 2023
  • Publications Committee Chair, IEEE Control Systems Society, 2019-2021
  • IEEE Control Systems Society, Board of Governors, Elected Member 2020-22

Service on Department Committees

  • Promotion and Tenure Committee, Industrial and Enterprise Systems Department, 2019-present
  • Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs, Industrial and Enterprise Systems Department, 2020-present
  • Courses and Curriculum Committee, Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering Department, 2007-2011 and 2018-19; ex-oficio 2020-present

Service on College Committees

  • Coordinated Science Lab 75th Anniversary Book Project Committee, 2022-23

Service on Campus Committees

  • Senate Committee on Student Discipline (SCSD), 2015-present
  • Admissions Committee for the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, 2018-21

Teaching Honors

  • List of Teachers Rated Excellent: IE 529 Statistics of Big Data and Clustering (Fall 2021)
  • The Sharp Outstanding Teaching Award in Industrial Engineering (2015)
  • List of Teachers Rated Excellent: SE 424-State Space Design Methods in Control (Fall 2011, 2013; Spring 2015, 2016, 2017,2018, 2019, 2020, 2021)
  • List of Teachers Rated Excellent: SE 524-Data Based Modeling and Identification (Fall 2009, Spring 2014, Fall 2015, Fall 2018)

Research Honors

  • Plenary Speaker - SICE2023 Tsu, Japan (2023)
  • IEEE Control Systems Society Distinguished Lecturer (2024-2026)
  • IEEE Fellow (2023)
  • Keynote Lecture-Southeast Control Conference (2021)
  • Semi-Plenary Speaker - SIAM Conference on Control and Applications (2021)
  • Keynote Lecture-Georgia Tech DCL Student Symposium (2019)
  • Arthur Davis Faculty Scholar Award (2016)
  • Semi-Plenary Speaker-ECC (2015)
  • Semi-Plenary Speaker-MTNS (2014)
  • ONR Young Investigator Award (2001-2004)
  • NSF CAREER Award (1998-2003)
  • ORAU Junior Faculty Award (1997)
  • Alcoa Foundation Award (1997)

Recent Courses Taught

  • ECE 528 (ME 546, SE 520) - Analysis of Nonlinear Systems
  • IE 300 AD1 (IE 300 AD2, IE 300 AD3, IE 300 AD4, IE 300 AL1, IE 300 BD1, IE 300 BD2, IE 300 BD3, IE 300 BD4, IE 300 BL1) - Analysis of Data
  • IE 529 - Stats of Big Data & Clustering
  • SE 424 - State Space Design for Control
  • SE 524 - Data-Based Systems Modeling

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