The Grainger College of Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering

Mark W Spong

Mark W Spong
Mark W Spong

Administrative Titles

Donald Biggar Willett Professor Emeritus

For More Information

Education

  • D.Sc. Systems Science & Mathematics Washington University 1981

Research Statement

My research is focused on nonlinear control theory with particular emphasis on applications in robotics. We are currently investigating passivity-based control intelerobotics, synchronization and coordination of networked robotic agents, and bipedal locomotion.

Research Interests

  • Mechatronics
  • Teleoperation
  • Robust and adaptive control
  • Nonlinear control
  • Robotics

Research Areas

Teaching Honors

  • UIUC Outstanding Advisor Award, 1999, 2005
  • IFAC Triennial Control Engineering Textbook Award, Finalist, 1996
  • Lincoln Arc Welding Silver Award, 1994
  • Lincoln Arc Welding Gold Award, 1993
  • Incomplete list of teachers rated excellent by their students, Spring 1989, Spring 2000, Spring 2006
  • John R. Ragazzini Award, American Automatic Control Council, June, 2004

Research Honors

  • IROS Fumio Harashima Award for Innovative Technologies, 2007
  • Plenary Address, IEEE Multiconference on Systems and Control, Singapore, October, 2007
  • Plenary Address, 4th IEEE International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO'07), Angers, France, May, 2007
  • Plenary address, IFAC Workshop on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian Systems, Nagoya, Japan, 2006
  • Keynote address, 8th IASTED International Conference on Control and Applications, Montreal, CA, 2006
  • Plenary Address, International Conference on Electrical Engineering, Mexico City, September, 2005
  • Plenary Address, 2005 Chinese Automatic Control Conference, Tainan, Taiwan, November, 2005
  • Semi-Plenary at the NOLCOS (Nonlinear Control Symposium), Stuttgart, Germany, September, 2004
  • Plenary Address at the 2004 International Conference on Dynamics, Instrumentation and Control, Nanjing China, August, 2004
  • Plenary Address at the 2004 Chinese Control Conference, Wuxi, China, August, 2004
  • O. Hugo Schuck Award, American Automatic Control Council, 2002
  • Distinguished Member Award, IEEE Control Systems Society, 2002
  • Southwest Mechanics Lecture Series Distinguised Speaker, 2001
  • IEEE Third Millenium Medal, 2000
  • Senior Scientist Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany, 1999
  • Plenary Address at the International Symposium on Robotics and Automation (ISRA'98), Saltillo, Mexico, December, 1998
  • Best Video Prize, IEEE Int’l Conference of Robotics and Automation, Leuven, Belgium, May 1998
  • Fellow of the IEEE, 1996
  • RIST International Forum, featured speaker, Kumamoto, Japan, 1995
  • Opening Plenary Address at The First International Conference on Mechatronics, Mexico City, January, 1994
  • Opening Plenary Address at The Workshop on Nonlinear and Adaptive Control, Grenoble, France, November, 1990
  • Best Paper Award, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, Austin, Texas, Dec. 1988
  • Best Paper Award, 1987 Robotics and Expert Systems Symposium, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 1987
  • NSF Research Initiation Award, 1982
  • Phi Beta Kappa, 1975