The ETSi academic community pays tribute to Professor Eduardo Fernández Camacho

The Department of Systems Engineering and Automation of the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville is holding a Workshop on the 21st and 22nd under the title “Advances and Challenges in Predictive Control. Tribute to Professor Eduardo Fernández Camacho.”

This event, dedicated to paying well-deserved tribute to the figure of one of its most outstanding professors, Eduardo Fernández Camacho, will also be a unique space to reflect on the dedication and exceptional contributions that the professor has developed throughout his outstanding career. His influence has not only left an indelible mark on academia, but has also inspired generations of students and professional colleagues.

The event program consists of two plenary conferences and a round table. The first of the conferences is titled “Applications of Predictive Control to Solar Energy Generation Plants” and will be given by Professor Manuel Berenguel Soria, professor at the University of Almería. The second of them is about “Predictive control applied to COVID control”, by Professor Julio Nomey Rico, from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, in Brazil.

The themes of the conferences include two of the main areas where Professor Fernández Camacho has been a pioneer, such as Predictive Control and solar thermal plants, and whose legacy has paved the way for several generations of researchers. Both lecturers completed their doctoral thesis with Eduardo Fernández Camacho and have created important research groups in the universities where they currently carry out their work.

The round table aims to review the different stages of the academic career of the honoree, for which professors Javier Aracil Santonja and Francisco Rodríguez Rubio from the University of Seville, Sebastián Dormido Bencomo from the UNED and César de Prada Moraga from the University will meet. from Valladolid.

A fruitful and extensive career

Professor Fernández Camacho is a Dr. Industrial Engineer and Emeritus Professor at the University of Seville. He is one of the pioneers of the methodology called Predictive Control, and has written several books, including "Model Predictive Control", and countless articles in prestigious journals.

He was President of the EUCA (European Union Control Association) and chaired the International Affairs Committee of the CSS (Society for Control Systems) of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). Additionally, he was a member of the IEEE CSS Board and the IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Council. He is an Honorary Member (Fellow) of the IFAC and IEEE societies.

In 2018, he received one of the prestigious and coveted Advanced Grants from the ERC (European Research Council) to work on optimal control of solar thermal systems. During his extensive career, he has supervised 37 doctoral theses and has been principal investigator of multiple projects with regional, national and European funding. He has also carried out numerous transfer projects for companies, mainly in the field of solar energy and industrial processes.

He has been awarded numerous awards, highlighting the National Automatic Award, awarded by CEA (Spanish Automatic Committee), the Fame Award from the University of Seville and the Javier Benjumea Puigcerver Award from the Focus Foundation..