Henson to Spend Year in Germany
Conducting Research
This fall, James McLaurin Shivers Professor Dr. Michael Henson
will be eating more jagerschnitzel than jambalaya, as he has been
invited to spend the Fall 2001 and Spring 2002 semesters at the
University of Stuttgart in Germany. Dr. Henson is taking a year-long
sabbatical from LSU to study the modeling, dynamics, and control
of continuous biochemical reactors, one of his major fields of
research. The proposed research at the University of Stuttgart
will take advantage of the advanced intercellular measurement
technology and metabolic modeling expertise in the Institute of
Biochemical Engineering and the nonlinear controller design expertise
in the Institute for Systems Theory in Engineering.
Michael and Elfreda Henson in Venice, Italy
Henson's current work is focused on dynamic modeling and feedback
control of continuous yeast bioreactors that exhibit open-loop
dynamic behavior, such as sustained oscillations. This work has
two major objectives: (1) refinement of his group's cell population
model of oscillating yeast cultures using a combination of experiments
and nonlinear dynamic analysis; and (2) the development of feedback
control strategies that utilize the population model to predict
dynamic behavior and optimize bioreactor performance.
Specific objectives of Dr. Henson's research are to conduct experiments
in which key intercellular and population variables are measured
under bioreactor operating conditions that support sustained oscillations;
to develop a detailed dynamic model by using the experimental
data as the basis for combining metabolic and population model
descriptions; to perform model order reduction and utilize bifurcation
analysis to evaluate the dynamic behavior of the reduced-order
model versus the full-order model; and to design a nonlinear model
predictive controller by using the reduced-order model to predict
the bioreactor dynamics. Dr. Henson's proposed research has earned
him fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation and from the Humboldt
Foundation to support his work.
Dr. Henson says that he expects the experience "will enhance
the quality of my bioengineering research and will be a valuable
cultural experience" especially for his two sons, 13-year-old
Cortney and 4-year-old Corey, who will be joining Dr. Henson and
his wife, Elfreda, in Germany.
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