M. (Ming) Cao, Prof

The research of Cao has been supported in part by the European Research Council (ERC), the European Union under its Horizaon 2020, Seventh Framework Program and INTERREG program, the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and other international and regional funding agencies.

Current PhD students and their projects

• Luis Venegas Pineda, "Partial synchronization in complex networks," jointly supervised by Dr. Hildeberto Jardon Kojakhmetov at the Math Department, 2019-2024
• Zhiyuan Liu, "Learning for mobile autonomous robots," 2020-2024
• Bangguo Yu, "Learning and robotic navigation," 2021-2025
• Xinghua Liu, "Localization of mobile sensors," 2022-2026
• Le Liu, "Privacy of dynamical control systems," 2023-2027
• Rory Gavin, "Dynamics in higher-order networks", 2023-2027
• Floor Schipper, "Dynamics of neural computation", jointly supervised by Dr. Hildeberto Jardon Kojakhmetov at the Math Department, 2024-2028
• Henrieke Krijgsheld, "Neuromorphic control theory", jointly supervised by Dr. Hildeberto Jardon Kojakhmetov at the Math Department, 2024-2028

Current Post Docs and their projects

• Binbin Hu, "Coordination of autonomous robots", 2024-2026
• Ashutosh Jindal, "Control of higher-order networks", 2024-2026

Former PhD students and their theses

1. Weiguo Xia, "Distributed algorithms for interacting autonomous agents (2013, pdf)," first as postdoc at the School of Electrical Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Sweden, now professor at the School of Control Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, China
2. Hui Liu, "Cooperative control in complex multi-agent networks facing information constraints (2013, pdf)", associate professor, School of Automation, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China
3. Shuo Zhang, "Analyzing network dynamcis through graph partitioning (2014, co-supervised with Prof. Kanat Camlibel in the math department, pdf)," development engineer, Siemens Wind Power, UK
4. Chen Wang, "Control and coordination of robotic fish (2014, pdf)," associate professor, Center for Software Engineering, Peking University, China
5. Jianlei Zhang, "Coexistence of competing strategies in evolutionary games (2015, pdf)," associate professor, Department of Automation, Nankai University, China
6. Hector Garcia de Marina Peinado, "Distributed formation control for autonomous robots (2016, pdf)", first as research scientist, Institute for Engineering and Systems Sciences (INSIS), Ecole Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (ENAC), Toulouse, France, now assistant professor at the University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
7. Pouria Ramazi, "Convergence analysis and control of evolutionary matrix-game dynamics (2017 with the distinction of Cum Laude, pdf)", post doc, Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada
8. Qingkai Yang, "Constructing tensegrity frameworks and related applications in multi-agent formation control (2018, pdf)", associate professor, School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
9. Hadi Taghvafard, "Modeling, analysis and control of biological oscillators (2018, pdf)", post doc, Devision of Systems Biomedicine and Pharmacology, Leiden University, the Netherlands
10. Xiaoshan Bai, "Cooperative task assignment for multiple vehicles (2019, pdf)", post doc, Department of Cognitive Robotics, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
11. Yuzhen Qin, "Distributed coordination and partial synchronization in complex networks (2019, pdf)," first as post doc, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Riverside, USA, now assistant professor with the Department of Machine Learning and Neural Computing at Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
12. Alain Govaert, "Network games and strategic play (2020, pdf)," post doc, Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, Sweden 
13. Yuri Kapitanyuk, "Motion control algorithms for mobile vehicles and marine crafts (2020, pdf)", first as robotics software engineer, Oceaneering,  Utrecht, the Netherlands, now researcher at ICT center, TU Delft, the Netherlands
14. Carlo Cenedese, "Multi-agent network games with applications in smart electric mobility (2021,pdf)" first as post doc, Department of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zurich), Switzerland, now assistant professor with the Delft Center for Systems and Control at the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), Delft, the Netherlands
15. Liangming Chen, "Angle rigidity graph theory and multi-agent formations (2021,pdf)", first as post doc, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, now associate professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology, China
16. Weijia Yao, "Guiding vector fields for robot motion control (2021 with the distinction of Cum Laude, pdf)", Professor, School of Robotics, Hunan University, China
17. Oscar Portoles Marin, "Uncovering the information processing underlying the interactions between brain areas (2021, pdf)", co-supervised with Dr. Marieke van Vugt and Dr. Jelmer Borst at the AI department, Research Software Developer, Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Jülich Research Center, Germany 
18. Luke Gong, "Emergent dynamic behaviors in complex social and ecological systems (2022)", post doc, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
19. Xingwen Zheng, "Seal whiskers and MEME flow sensors (2022,  with the distinction of Cum Laude)", co-supervised with Dr. Ajay Kottapalli at ENTEG, post doc, School of Information Science and Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Japan
20. Hamed Ayoobi, "Explain what you see: Argumentation-based learning and robvotic vision (2023, pdf)", jointly supervised by Prof. Bart Verheij and Prof. Rineke Verbrugge at the AI Department, post doc, Department of Computing, Imperial College London, UK
21. Kathinka Friewijk, "Modeling population behavior (2024)", Research Scientist, Municipal Health Service (GGD), Groningen, the Netherlands
22. Lionel Newman, "Tuning to each other: Interpersonal synchronization in brain and behavior (2024)", jointly supervised by Dr. Marieke van Vugt at the AI Department and Dr. Susanne Tauber at the Management Department
23. Emin Martirosyan, "Optimal control and reinforcement learning algorithms for inverse dynamic games (2024)"

Former PostDoc associates

1. Manuel Mazo Jr., "Event triggered control for wireless sensor networks," 2010-2012, now associate professor, Center for Systems and Control, the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
2. Tao Liu, "Synchronization of heterogeneous complex networks," 2012-2013, now assistant professor, Department of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
3. Chunyan Zhang, "Emergent behavior in complex networks," 2013-2014, now associate professor, Department of Automation, Nankai University, China
4. James Riehl, "Algorithmic design and analysis for network protocols," 2013-2016, research scientist, Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
5. Anton V. Proskurnikov, "Distributed control for network systems," 2014-2016, now assistant professor, Department of Mathematics, Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy
6. Yu Kawano, "Analysis of data-driven nonlinear dynamic networks", 2016-2019, now associate professor, Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Hiroshima University, Japan
7. Zhongqi Sun, "Learning and predictive control", 2018-2019, now assistant professor, School of Automation, Beijing Institute of Technology, China
8. Mengbin Ye, "Social network dynamics", 2018-2020, now lecturer and Senior Research Fellow, Optus-Curtin Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, Curtin University, Australia
9. Lorenzo Zino, "Stochastic network dynamics," 2019-2022, now assistant professor with the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Polytechnic University of Turin, Italy

Former visitors

• Wenwu Yu, "Consensus and flocking in multi-agent networks," 2009, at the time of visit was a PhD student at the Department of Electrical Engineering, the City Univeristy of Hong Kong, now professor at the Department of Mathematics, Southeast University, China
• Wei Ren, "Distributed cooperative control," 2010, professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, USA
• Haili Liang, "Stochastic stability of evolutionary games," 2013-2014, at the time of visit was a PhD student at the School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (Supported by China Scholarship Council)
• Miguel Martinez, "Localization in mobile robotic teams," 2014, at the time of visit was a PhD student at the Department of Electronics, University of Alcala, Spain (supported by EU Erasmus Mundus Action Scholarship)
• Yiwen Qi, "Event-based control for switched linear systems," 2015-2016, at the time of vist was a lecturer at the School of Automation, Shenyang Aerospace University, China (Supported by a joint project by NSFC and NWO)