Reza Moheimani, PhD
Education
PhD in Electrical Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia
MEngSc in Electrical Engineering (Majoring in Systems and Control), University of New South Wales, Australia
BSc in Electrical Engineering, Shiraz University, Iran
Research Interests
Nanoscale mechatronic systems
Control theory
Dynamics and control of high-speed scanning probe microscopes
Atomically precise manufacturing
Prior Appointments
Professor and Australian Research Council Future Fellow, University of Newcastle, Australia
Associate Director of Centre for Complex Dynamic Systems and Control (CDSC), an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence
Career Highlights
Creator of a dime-sized atomic force microscope
Author of over 350 refereed articles and 5 books
Other awards include
2018 – IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Outstanding Paper Award
2014 – IFAC Nathaniel B. Nichols Medal
2013 – IFAC Mechatronic Systems Award
2011 – IEEE Fellow Award
2011 – IFAC Fellow Award
2009 – IEEE Control Systems Technology Award
2007 – IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Outstanding Paper Award
2007 – Institute of Physics, UK, Fellow Award
Editor-in-Chief, Mechatronics
Books Authored, Co-Authored or Edited
Control Technologies for Emerging Micro and Nanoscale Systems, 2011; Piezoelectric Transducers for Vibration Control and Damping, 2006; Mechatronic Systems, 2004; Spatial Control of Vibration: Theory and Experiments, 2003; Perspectives in Robust Control, 2001
Recent Patent
Methods, devices and systems for scanning tunneling microscopy control system design, granted 2019 Zyvex Labs LLC, Texas, and Board of Regents, The University of Texas System
Moheimani Honored with ASME Draper Innovative Practice Award
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) recently announced Dr. Reza Moheimani, professor of systems engineering and holder of the James Von Ehr Distinguished Chair in Science and Technology, will receive its 2020 Charles Stark Draper Innovative Practice Award. Established in 1996, the biennial award is for “excellent sustained contributions in innovative applications of dynamic systems, measurement or control in engineering practice.”
Moheimani said: “I am grateful and humbled to receive the Draper award from the Dynamic Systems and Control Division of ASME. Getting recognized by your peers for your past research contributions is a true honor. I have had the good fortune of working with outstanding graduate students and postdocs in Australia and the United States and benefitted immensely from long-term collaborations with dedicated researchers all over world, too many to name here. I want to be clear that whatever I have done, I have done with others and this award recognizes efforts of many of those with whom I have worked.”
Moheimani is one of UT Dallas’ top researchers who was awarded a 2020 FRIEND award from the The University of Texas at Dallas’ Office of Research for highest cumulative federal research expenditures in the previous fiscal year. His broadly interdisciplinary work encompasses several areas of systems research at the nanoscale, including high precision microscopy and atomic scale manufacturing. He founded the Laboratory for Dynamics and Control of Nanosystems soon after joining the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science in 2015. The laboratory continues research Moheimani began at a previous appointment in Australia.
“This is a huge award and well-deserved,” said Dr. Stephen Yurkovich, head of the Department of Systems Engineering in the Jonsson School and Louis Beecherl Jr. Distinguished Chair. “Needless to say, we are very proud to count Professor Moheimani among our faculty in systems engineering at UT Dallas.”
In 2019, Moheimani received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop new enabling technologies for atomically precise manufacturing (APM), a type of 3D printing at the atomic scale. The ultimate goal of this effort is to realize novel instruments and systems for high-speed and high-throughput fabrication of devices with atomic precision. An immediate application for these technologies will be in the development of novel solid-state quantum devices and, in particular, next-generation quantum computers. With UT Dallas funding, Moheimani established the Center for Atomically Precise Fabrication of Solid-State Quantum Devices (Quantum Center).
During his tenure at UT Dallas, Moheimani has produced a U.S. patent awarded in 2019 for methods, devices and systems for scanning tunneling microscopy control system design. In 2018, Moheimani was awarded the IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology Outstanding Paper Award and was later profiled in the June 2019 issue of IEEE Control Systems Magazine.
Moheimani was previously a tenured faculty member at the University of Newcastle, Australia, for nearly two decades. He took a significant leap when he transitioned to the Jonsson School, adjusting to a new country and a new continent. However, with access to high quality facilities at UT Dallas including a cleanroom at the Natural Science and Engineering Research Laboratory (NSERL), Moheimani has been able to build and design microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) onsite, developing a uniquely robust and well-equipped laboratory for his area of research.
Over 18 years at the University of Newcastle, Moheimani created a research program focusing on high-precision mechatronic systems, and the laboratory he founded is still in operation. He also has a prolific publication record as the author of more than 350 journal articles and editor-in-chief of Mechatronics. He has received the Outstanding Paper Award twice from IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, in 2007 and 2018. Moheimani primarily teaches graduate level courses and has advised 14 PhD students through graduation. His laboratory at UT Dallas currently includes seven PhD students.
“For Fundamental Contributions to Control of
High-Precision Mechatronic Systems.”
ASME 2020 Citation for Reza Moheimani
Moheimani is a fellow of three major organizations: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) and the Institute of Physics in the United Kingdom.
Two Jonsson School systems engineering faculty members will be recognized at the ASME Dynamic Systems and Control Conference in October 2020. Dr. Mark W. Spong, holder of the Excellence in Education Chair, will deliver the Rufus Oldenburger Lecture.