Vincent Daniel Blondel (born April 28, 1965) is a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
professor of
applied mathematics
Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathemati ...
and current
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of the
University of Louvain (UCLouvain) and a visiting professor at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
(MIT). Blondel's research lies in the area of mathematical control theory and theoretical computer science. He is mostly known for his contributions in computational complexity in control, multi-agent coordination and complex networks.
Education
Blondel studied philosophy, mathematics, engineering and computer science in
Louvain-la-Neuve
Louvain-la-Neuve (, French for ''New Leuven''; wa, Li Noû Lovén) is a planned town in the municipality of Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, Wallonia, Belgium, situated 30 km southeast of Brussels, in the province of Walloon Brabant. The town ...
,
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
. He completed a master thesis in engineering at the
Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, he holds a MSc in mathematics from
Imperial College of Science and Technology
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
and a degree in philosophy, a master's degree in engineering (summa cum laude) and a PhD in applied mathematics from
Université catholique de Louvain.
Career
In 1993-1994 he was a Göran Gustafsson Fellow at the
Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm) and in 1994-1995 he was a Research Fellow at the
(INRIA) in Paris. From 1995 to 1999 he was an assistant professor at the Institute of Mathematics of the
Université de Liège before joining the
Louvain School of Engineering
The Louvain School of Engineering or ''École polytechnique de Louvain'' (EPL) is a faculty of the University of Louvain, Belgium, founded in 1864. Known as the Faculty of Applied Sciences (''Faculté des sciences appliquées'') prior to 2008, it c ...
of
UCLouvain where he has been since then. He was a research visitor with the
Australian National University
The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...
, the
University of California at Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...
, the
Santa Fe Institute
The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, inclu ...
, the Mittag-Leffler Institute of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
. He was a visiting professor of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure in Lyon in 1998 and at the
Université Paris VII - Diderot in 1999, 2000 and 2002. In 2005-2006 he was a visiting professor and a Fulbright scholar with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
. In 2010-2011 he was a visiting professor with the
MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems
The MIT Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) is an interdisciplinary research laboratory of MIT, working on research in the areas of communications, control, and signal processing combining faculty from the School of Engineering ( ...
(LIDS) of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
.
Blondel is a former associate editor of the European Journal of Control (Springer) and of Systems and Control Letters (Elsevier). He is an editor of the journal ''
Mathematics of Control, Signals, and Systems'' He has published about 100 journal articles and 6 books.
At UCLouvain, Blondel has founded the Group on Large Graphs and Networks. He has supervised 20 doctoral and postdoctoral researchers and 15 visiting professors. He was department head in 2003-2010 and a university president candidate in 2009.
In 2013, Blondel has become the dean of the
Louvain School of Engineering
The Louvain School of Engineering or ''École polytechnique de Louvain'' (EPL) is a faculty of the University of Louvain, Belgium, founded in 1864. Known as the Faculty of Applied Sciences (''Faculté des sciences appliquées'') prior to 2008, it c ...
.
He was elected the Rector of the
University of Louvain for the term 2014-2019, and reelected again in 2019 until 2024.
Honors and awards
* Grant from the Trustees of the Mathematics Institute of Oxford University (1992)
* Prize Agathon De Potter of the Belgian Royal Academy of Science (1993)
* Prize Paul Dubois of the Montefiore Institute (1993)
* Triennal SIAM prize on control and systems theory (2001)
* Prize Adolphe Wetrems of the Belgian Royal Academy of Science (2006)
* Antonio Ruberti prize in systems and control of the IEEE (2006)
* Named a
(IEEE) in 2013 for his contributions to computational analysis of
systems and
networks
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
.
Teaching
In 2012, he is in charge of the following courses at
UCLouvain :
* LINMA 1691 : Discrete mathematics I : Graphs algorithmics and theory
* LINMA 1702 : Optimisation Models and Methods
* LINMA 2111 : Discrete mathematics II: Algorithms and complexity
* LINMA 2120 : System theory seminar
* LINMA 2472 : Special questions about discrete mathematics.
The last course is following the online course of M. Chiang from Princeton University : "20Q about networks : Friends, Money and Bytes"
References
External links
Home PageUCLouvain PageMathematics Genealogy Project profile Large Graphs and Networks research group (at UCLouvain)Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (at MIT)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blondel, Vincent D
Control theorists
Living people
Academic staff of the Université catholique de Louvain
1965 births
Network scientists
Fellow Members of the IEEE
21st-century Belgian engineers
Belgian computer scientists
Rectors of universities in Belgium