Rate My Professor Rick Middleton

Emeritus Professor Rick Middleton of the University of Newcastle's School of Electrical Engineering and Computing is a leading authority in control systems theory and applications within the Engineering faculty. Born in Newcastle, Australia, on 10 December 1961, he obtained his B.Sc. (1983), B.Eng. (Hons I, 1984), and Ph.D. (1987) from the University of Newcastle. His career trajectory includes pivotal roles such as Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1994-1996), Associate Director of the Centre for Integrated Dynamics and Control (1997-2001), Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Complex Dynamic Systems and Control (since 2003), and Director of the Priority Research Centre for Complex Dynamic Systems and Control. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Michigan, and the Hamilton Institute at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Internationally, he served as President of the IEEE Control Systems Society (2011), Vice President for Member Activities (2004-2005), Vice President for Conference Activities (2006-), and Program Chair for the 45th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (2006). Additionally, he has been a panel member and sub-panel chair for the Australian Research Council.

Professor Middleton's research centers on feedback control in dynamic systems, with applications to industrial, biological, and mechanical processes, including systems biology for Parkinson's Disease, renewable energy optimization, smart grids, robotics, mine planning, and metal forming. He pioneered advancements in fundamental limitations of control system design, digital control, adaptive control, process control, telecommunications, power electronics, and systems biology. Key publications encompass 'Adaptive Control: Overview' (2021), 'Design Methods' (2019, with Graebe, Ahlén, Shamma), 'Trade-Offs and Limitations in Feedback Systems' (2018, with Looze, Freudenberg, Braslavsky), and 'Design methods: Dealing with actuator saturation' (2017, with Salgado, Goodwin). His contributions have earned him Fellowship of the IEEE (1999), Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science (2025), Australian Telecommunications and Electronics Research Board Outstanding Young Investigator Award (1991), Royal Society of New South Wales Edgeworth-David Medal (1994), and M.A. Sargent Medal from Engineers Australia (2004). Editorial roles include Associate Editor for Automatica (1998-2004), IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology (1997-2000), and IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (1991-1992). He delivered the Keynote Talk 'The Intersection of Feedback Control and Telecommunications' (2020) and served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Control Systems Society.