Phone: 518-441-0470
Email: wenj@rpi.edu
Web: http://www.john-wen.com
YouTube: http://youtube.com/controlguy168
John T. Wen is a Professor and the Head of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering. He was the Head of Industrial and Systems Engineering from 2013-2018, Director of the Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS) from 2005-2013, and the Interim Director of the NSF Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center (ERC) in 2009.
As the Director of the CATS, a New York State designated Center for Advanced Technology, he successfully led the ten-year re-designation in 2009 . The CATS helped industry partners generate over $340M of economic impact in the state and over 900 new and retained jobs. As the Interim Director of the Smart Lighting ERC from Jun-Dec 2009, he successfully led the first ERC annual review and recruited a permanent director to the center. He was the Rensselaer representative on the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) 2.0 operating committee from 2013-2014. He led the Rensselaer participation in the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute, a Manufacturing USA Institute awarded by the Department of Defense in 2017. He serves on the ARM Technical Advisory Council and co-leads with FuzeHub the ARM Mid-Atlantic Regional Robotics Innovation Collaborative (RRIC).
He is the co-inventor of the Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (ASOM), which was licensed to Thorlabs in 2007. The commercialized version of ASOM won the 2007 Laser Focus World Innovation Award in the Conference in Lasers and Electro Optics (CLEO). He was awarded the 2013 IEEE Control Systems Society Transition to Practice Award. He served as an Oversea Assessor for the Chinese Academy of Sciences from 2004-2009, and a Senior Visiting Scientist of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) in 1997. He has been an IEEE Fellow since 2001.
John Wen joined Rensselaer faculty in 1988. He was a member of technical staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developing modeling and control algorithms for large space structures and space robots from 1985-1988. From 1981-1982, he was a system engineer at Fisher Controls developing plant-wide coordination control system for pulp and paper plants.
He received B.Eng. from McGill University in 1979, M.S. from University of Illinois in 1981, and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985, all in Electrical Engineering.
John Wen's research interest lies in the modeling and control of dynamical systems with applications to precision motion, robot manipulation, thermal management, lighting systems and materials processing.
Ph.D., Electrical Engineering. Concentration: Control Systems. 1/83-8/85. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
M.S., Electrical Engineering. Concentration: Control Systems. 1/80-5/81. University of Illinois, Champaign, IL.
M.S. Candidate, Electrical Engineering. Concentration: Control Systems. 9/79-12/79. University of Toronto, Toronto, ONT, Canada.
B. Eng., Electrical Engineering. Honors Program. 9/76-8/79. McGill University, Montreal, QUE, Canada.
- William H. Wiley Distinguished Faculty Award, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, May, 2020
- 2020 International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications Best Paper Award for the article “Human-directed coordinated control of an assistive mobile manipulator,” which was published in the International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications (co-author: Lu Lu, former post-doc, now at NJIT), October 2020
- IEEE Transaction on Automation Science and Engineering Best Paper Award, 2015
- IEEE Control Systems Society Transition to Practice Award, 2013
- Rensselaer School of Engineering Outstanding Team Award, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 2010
- Innovation in Optomechatronic Research Award, SPIE Symposium on Optomecharonic Technologies, San Diego, 2008.
- Rensselaer School of Engineering Outstanding Research Award, 2007.
- Best Conference Paper Award, IEEE Conf. on Automation Science and Engineering, Shanghai, 2006
- Oversea Assessor, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 2004-2009
- Fellow of IEEE, 2001
- Senior Visiting Scientist, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), 1997
- ASEE/NASA Summer Faculty Fellow at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, summer 1993
- National Science Foundation Research Initiation Award, 1989
- Eleven NASA Tech Brief Awards from 1986-1988
1/19-Present | Professor and Head, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY |
7/13-12/18 | Professor and Head, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. |
7/05-12/13 | Director, Center for Automation Technologies and Systems, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. |
6/09-12/09 | Interim Director, Smart Lighting Engineering Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. |
6/96-Present | Professor, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, joint appointments in Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering, and Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. |
9/91-5/96 | Associate Professor, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. |
9/88-8/91 | Assistant Professor, Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. |
9/85-8/88 | Member of Technical Staff, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA. |
6/81-12/82 | Systems Engineer, Fisher Control Company, Marshalltown, IA. |
Courses Taught
Student Supervision
Professional Activities
- Technical Advisory Council member, Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute, 2018-2020.
- Co-Lead, ARM Regional Robotics Innovation Collaborative (RRIC) Mid-Atlantic Region, 2017-2020.
- Senior Editor of IEEE Transaction on Automation Science and Engineering, 2013-2018.
- Senior Editor of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2015-2018.
- Associate Editor of Robotica, 2008-2011.
- Associate Editor of Journal of Optomechatronics, 2007-2012.
- Associate Editor of IEEE Transaction on Robotics and Automation 1994-1998, 2004-2008.
- Program Chair of the Third Annual CIRSSE Conference, 1991.
- Publication Chair of 1994 American Control Conference.
- Publication Chair of 1995 Conference on Control Applications.
- General Chair, 2010 IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE).
- Special Session Chair, 2011 American Control Conference.
University Service
- Intellectual Property Faculty Steering Committee, 2014-present
- Chair of School of Engineering Graduate Studies Task Force, 2015
- Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute representative on the Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (AMP) 2.0 Operating Committee 2013-2014
- School of Engineering Dean Search Committee 2008, 2013
- ISE, ECSE, and MANE Faculty Search Committees 2002, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
- ECSE Chair Search Committee, 1999, 2008