Curriculum vitæ of Geert Jan Olsder

(October 2003)

Personal data.

1944, January 1, born in Muntendam, the Netherlands.
Citizenship: Dutch.

Office address:
Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science,
Delft University of Technology,
P.O.Box 5031,
2600 GA Delft,
the Netherlands.
Phone +31-15-2781912; fax:+31-15-2787255; e-mail: g.j.olsder@ewi.tudelft.nl

Education.

He studied applied mathematics with minors in astronomy, mechanics and pure mathematics at Groningen University, the Netherlands, where he obtained his M.Sc. degree (1968) and Ph.D. degree (1971), both with honors. The Ph.D. thesis was about time-optimal control with applications in ship-maneuvering. Recently, he participated in some management courses.

Employment.

From 1971-1981 he was employed at Twente University of Technology, from 1981-1983 at Hollandse Signaalapparaten, a high-tech firm based in Hengelo (the Netherlands) which, at that time, was a subsidiary of Philips. In 1983 he was appointed (full) professor of Mathematical System Theory at Delft University of Technology. He spent sabbatical leaves at Stanford University, department of aero- and astronautics, USA (1972-1973), at Harvard University, department of applied sciences, USA (1979-1980), at INRIA (Institut Nationale de Rechereche en Informatique et en Automatique) Sophia-Antipolis, France (1992-1993) and at i3s, CNRS/university of Nice (2002-2003). Shorter periods were spent at USC Los Angeles (1984), Shenyang China (1986), Ecole des Mines de Paris in Fontainebleau (1989), UC in Berkeley (1990). He is/was consultant for the National Aerospace Aerospace Laboratory, Amsterdam and for Royal Dutch Shell, Amsterdam. Since 1998 he has been deputy vice-chancellor of the university.

Research activities.

The research interests gradually moved from optimal control (1968-1975) to dynamic game theory (1973-1985), to filter theory (1980-1984), to the theory of discrete event systems (1985-onwards). Currently he is interested in hybrid systems and financial mathematics. He is a member of the editorial board of four international scientific journals. He has been on the program committees of various conferences (also as chairman). He has served IFAC (the International Federation of Automatic Control) in various functions, lastly (1996-1999) as a council member. He was a member of IEEE and of some Dutch scientific and/or engineering organizations. The scientific output comprises about 55 papers in international scientific journals, about 50 papers in conference proceedings. He is (co-)author of two books (Dynamic Noncooperative Game Theory, Academic Press, 1982, revised edition 1995, and in 1999 reprinted in the SIAM classics series; Synchronization and Linearity, an Algebra for Discrete Event Systems, Wiley, 1992). A new book (Max Plus on the Rail) is being prepared.

Languages Spoken.

Dutch (fluently), English (near native), German (advanced level), French (working knowledge).

Organizational activities.

From 1994-1998 he was chairman of the department of applied analysis (vakgroep toepgepaste analyse), which has about fifty employees, of the faculty of Technical Mathematics and Informatics at Delft University of Technology. He was the network coordinator of (and the scientifically responsible person for) a European Union project within the framework of `training and mobility of researchers'; the theme of the project is: the algebraic approach to performance evaluation of timed discrete events systems. He has supervised about 15 Ph.D. theses and about 65 M.Sc. theses.

Hobbies:

Skating (he skated (and finished) the Frysian eleven city tour (200 km) two times), piano playing, tennis, rowing, biking. Since 1988 a Rotarian (member, currently president elect, of Delft Koningsveld).

06 Oct, 2003

Geert Jan Olsder
T.U. Delft -- Fac. EEMCS,
P.O. Box 5031,
2600 GA Delft,
the Netherlands.
Phone +31-15-2781912; fax:+31-15-2787255;
e-mail: g.j.olsder@tudelft.nl