Curriculum Vitae - Associate Professor Christopher Manzie
Department of Mechanical Engineering
The University of Melbourne
Victoria, Australia 3010
Research career summary
My research is principally associated with developing and applying control and optimisation tools to
energy systems in order to improve performance in various metrics such as economy and emissions.
This has involved theoretical work in extremum seeking, modelling and model-based control driven
by real world problems. The projects I have been involved in can be broadly classified into three
groups:
1. Efficiency:
The rising price of oil has heightened the importance of efficient use of fuels for
passenger transport, while concurrently the numbers of schedulable inputs affecting fuel efficiency
on a typical vehicle (e.g. fuel rate, fuel timing, cam phasing, air-fuel ratio, spark timing etc) are
rapidly increasing. This makes the traditional look-up table calibration approach to automotive
control systems increasingly sub-optimal, time-consuming and expensive. Model-based approaches
can offer significant performance gains by optimally combining sets of inputs to the engine to make
the most efficient use of the available fuel, or in the case of hybrid vehicles, fuel and electricty.
This is complicated when alternative fuels such as LPG, CNG and ethanol blends are considered, as
their composition is variable and thus the models used during the controller calibration can become
redundant. My work in this domain has included multiple industry partners (including automotive
OEMs, DSTO and BAE Systems) and government departments, and led to me being awarded a
Future Fellowship by the ARC from 2011-2014. I helped to establish the Australian Centre for
Automotive Research and Testing (ACART), and run several projects in this centre. I am also the
Australian representative on the IEEE and IFAC Technical subcommittees on Automotive Control
and am on numerous international program committees for conferences and workshops.
2. Emissions: I have worked on reducing emissions using control and optimisation techniques at a
number of levels. Starting at the very low level, I developed control strategies to maintain the air-to-
fuel ratio in a spark ignition engine at stoichiometric levels throughout transient driving behaviour.
This work allows the catalytic converter to operate at maximum efficiency and consequently SULEV
tailpipe emission levels can be obtained. With my students, I have also developed models of the
complete engine and aftertreatment system, that can be used in open loop optimisation frameworks
to minimise emissions following engine cold starts - regarded as the most difficult period of emissions
control. I have been heavily involved in projects with alternative fuels (including hydrogen, natural
gas and LPG) and alternative powertrains (including hybrid and plug-in hybrids with and without
telematic capability).
Outside the automotive sector, I have also been involved in gas turbine
projects related to low emission generation of compressed air and the suppression of thermoacoustic
instability by active control. More recently I am also heavily involved in an ACRE grant investigating
the least cost transition pathways to a low emission Australian electricity grid and another project
on transportation networks.
3. Mechatronics: In 2003, I began collaborating with the Australian-based company Pacifica on
the development of a control architecture for a prototype automotive electromechanical brake. This
system would replace the hydraulic brakes of today’s vehicles and offer greater performance, improved
vehicle manufacturability and lower environmental impact. The controller utilised the model based
design approach, and the end result was a product that was recognised as world leading and used
in prototype vehicles in the US including the GM Sequel in 2006. The success of this project has
led to collaborations with ANCA Motion and another Australian company Virtual Sailing Pty Ltd.
Furthermore, I was the Mechatronics Discipline Leader at the University of Melbourne from 2008
until 2013.
Education
Ph.D., Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Melbourne, 2001
B. Eng., Electrical and Electronic (Honours), University of Melbourne, 1996
B.S., Physics/Mathematics, University of Melbourne, 1996
Academic Positions Held
Associate Professor
2011–
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Melbourne
Tenured position in the Dynamic Systems and Control group, conducting and supervising research
into applied control and estimation problems in automotive powertrains, mechatronic systems and
gas turbines. Since 2012, I have also undertaken a role as Assistant Dean in the School of Engi-
neering, with a portfolio of Research Training. In this role I oversee the Research Higher Degree
admissions and current student policies and procedures for the School. Since my appointment I have
helped to introduce several new initiatives including School-wide coursework requirements, staggered
scholarship rounds, Autonomous Sanctions legislation and uniform confirmation requirements.
Visiteur Scientifique
2012
Control Systems and Signals Department
Institut Francais du Petrol Energies Nouvelles
I was a Scientific Visitor at IFP Energies Nouvelles, an industrial research centre in Rueil Malmaison
during late 2012, where I worked on issues related to the robustness of control systems used in flex
fuel and plug in hybrid vehicles.
ARC Future Fellow
2011–2014
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Melbourne
My Australian Research Council Future Fellowship is a full time research position that will investi-
gate the development of new online optimisation techniques and their implementation in alternative
fuelled engines and advanced vehicle technologies.
Senior Lecturer
2006–2010
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Melbourne
Tenured position in the Dynamic Systems and Control group, conducting and supervising research
into applied control and estimation problems in automotive powertrain, vehicle dynamics, mecha-
tronic systems and gas turbines.
Visiting Scholar
Jan - July, 2007
Dept of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
University of California, San Diego
Over this period I was working with Prof Miroslav Krstic on stochastic extremum seeking.
Lecturer
2003–2006
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Melbourne
Academic position in the Dynamic Systems and Control group, conducting and supervising research
into applied control and estimation problems in automotive powertrain and by-wire systems.
Research Fellow
2002
Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering
University of Melbourne
My research fellowship was spent investigating two problems in the automotive control field - idle
speed control and compensation for varying LPG composition in port injected engines