Curriculum Vitae
Name: Somayeh Sojoudi
Email: somayeh.sojoudi@gmail.com
URL: http://www.somayehsojoudi.com
Academic History
§
Postdoctoral Scholar: Sep. 2015- present
UC Berkeley, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
Mentor: Prof. Jose Carmena
§
Postdoctoral Scholar: Nov. 2013- Sep. 2015
New York University School of Medicine, Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
Mentor: Dr. Orrin Devinsky
Collaborators: Drs. Gyorgy Buzsaki, Thomas Thesen and Heath Pardoe
§
Postdoctoral Scholar: July 2013-Oct. 2013
California Institute of Technology, Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Mentor: Prof. John C. Doyle
§
Ph.D. in Control and Dynamical Systems: July 2008-June 2013
California Institute of Technology
Advisor: Prof. John C. Doyle
Collaborators: Profs. Steven H. Low, Richard M. Murray, Amir G. Aghdam and
Javad Lavaei
Thesis: Mathematical Study of Complex Networks: Brain, Internet, and Power Grid
§ M.A.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering: Sep. 2006-July 2007
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
Advisor: Prof. Amir G. Aghdam
Thesis: Robust Stabilization of Interconnected Systems by Means of Structurally
Constrained Controllers
§
B.S. in Electrical Engineering: Sep. 2000-May 2005
Shahed University, Tehran, Iran
Thesis: Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronic Devices
Selected Awards and Honors
o
Co-recipient of the INFORMS Optimization Society Prize for Young Researchers,
2015.
o
Co-author of a best student paper award finalist, IEEE Conference on Decision and
Control, 2014.
o
Recipient of Postgraduate Scholarship of NSERC (Natural Sciences and
Engineering Research Council of Canada), 2009-2011.
o
Recipient of the F. A. Gerard Prize (Best Master’s Thesis Award) in the Faculty of
Engineering and Computer Science of Concordia University for the year 2009.
o
Nominated by the Faculty of Engineering and Computer Science of Concordia
University for the Governor General of Canada's Gold Medal, 2009.
o
Best paper in session award, American Control Conference 2007 & 2010.
Publications
Preprints
1. Somayeh Sojoudi, Orrin Devinsky, and Thomas Thesen, Large-scale cortical
interactions during auditory, visual and audio-visual integration conditions: Event
related analysis of human electrocoticography (ECoG).
2. Somayeh Sojoudi, Orrin Devinsky, and Gyorgy Buzsaki, Feedforwad and
feedback influences through distinct frequency channels in hippocampal areas
and entorhinal cortex.
3. Somayeh Sojoudi and John C. Doyle, Study of the brain functional network
using synthetic data.
4. Somayeh Sojoudi, Equivalence of graphical lasso and thresholding for sparse
graphs.
5. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, Convexification of generalized network
flow problem.
6. Ramtin Madani, Ghazal Fazelnia, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Javad Lavaei, Finding
low-rank solutions of sparse linear matrix inequalities using convex optimization.
7. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, Network topologies guaranteeing zero
duality gap for optimal power flow problem.
Refereed Journal Papers
8. Rebecca K. Hiess, Rachel Alter, Somayeh Sojoudi, Babak Ardekani, Ruben
Kuzniecky, and Heath Pardoe, Corpus callosum area and brain volume in autism
spectrum disorder: quantitative analysis of structural MRI from the ABIDE study,
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 45, pp.3107-3114, 2015.
9. Na Li, Jerry Cruz, Chenghao Simon Chien, Somayeh Sojoudi, Ben Recht, David
Stone, Marie Csete, Daniel Bahmiller, and John C. Doyle, Robust efficiency and
actuator saturation explain healthy heart rate control and variability, Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 33, pp. 3476-3485, 2014.
10. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, Exactness of semidefinite relaxations for
nonlinear optimization problems with underlying graph structure, SIAM Journal
on Optimization, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 1746–1778, 2014.
11. Ramtin Madani, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Javad Lavaei, Convex relaxation for
optimal power flow problem: Mesh networks, IEEE Transactions on Power
Systems, 2014.
12. Somayeh Sojoudi, Steven H. Low, and John C. Doyle, Buffering dynamics and
stability of Internet congestion controllers, IEEE/ACM Transactions on
Networking, vol. 22, no. 6, pp. 1808-1818, 2014.
13. Somayeh Sojoudi, Javad Lavaei, and Amir G. Aghdam, Robust stabilizability
verification of polynomially uncertain LTI systems, IEEE Transactions on
Automatic Control, vol. 52, no. 9, pp. 1721-1726, 2007.
14. Somayeh Sojoudi and Amir G. Aghdam, Overlapping control systems with
optimal information exchange, Automatica, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 1176-1181, 2009.
15. Somayeh Sojoudi, Javad Lavaei, and Amir G. Aghdam, Robust controllability
and observability degrees of polynomially uncertain systems, Automatica, vol. 45,
no. 11, pp. 2640-2645, 2009.
16. Somayeh Sojoudi and Amir G. Aghdam, Interconnection-based performance
analysis for a class of decentralized controllers, Automatica, vol. 46, Issue 5, pp.
796-803, 2010.
17. Javad Lavaei, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Amir G. Aghdam, Pole assignment with
improved control performance by means of periodic feedback, IEEE Transactions
on Automatic Control, vol. 55, no. 1, pp. 248-252, 2010.
18. Javad Lavaei and Somayeh Sojoudi, Time complexity of decentralized fixedmode verification, IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 55, Issue 4, pp.
971-976, 2010.
Refereed Conference Papers
19. Somayeh Sojoudi and John C. Doyle, Study of the brain functional network
using synthetic data, IEEE Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and
Computing, 2014.
20. Somayeh Sojoudi, Equivalence of graphical lasso and thresholding for sparse
graphs, IEEE Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing,
2014.
21. Somayeh Sojoudi, Ramtin Madani, Ghazal Fazelnia, and Javad Lavaei, Graphtheoretic algorithms for solving polynomial optimization problems, IEEE
Conference on Decision and Control, 2014 (Tutorial paper).
22. Ramtin Madani, Ghazal Fazelnia, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Javad Lavaei, Lowrank solutions of matrix inequalities with applications to polynomial optimization
and matrix completion problems, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control
2014.
23. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, On the exactness of semidefinite
relaxation for nonlinear optimization over graphs: Part I, IEEE Conference on
Decision and Control, 2013.
24. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, On the exactness of semidefinite
relaxation for nonlinear optimization over graphs: Part II, IEEE Conference on
Decision and Control, 2013.
25. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, Study of nonlinear power optimization
problems using algebraic graph theory, CAMSAP, 2013.
26. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, Convexification of generalized network
flow problem with application to power systems, IEEE Conference on Decision
and Control, 2013 (invited paper).
27. Ramtin Madani, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Javad Lavaei, Convex relaxation for
optimal power flow problem: Mesh networks, Asilomar, 2013 (invited paper).
28. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, Convexification of optimal power flow
problem by means of phase shifters, IEEE SmartGridComm, 2013.
29. Somayeh Sojoudi, Ramtin Madani, and Javad Lavaei, Low-rank solution of
convex relaxation for optimal power flow problem, IEEE SmartGridComm, 2013.
30. Somayeh Sojoudi and Javad Lavaei, Physics of power networks makes hard
optimization problems easy to solve, IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES)
General Meeting, 2012.
31. Javad Lavaei and Somayeh Sojoudi, Competitive equilibria in electricity markets
with nonlinearities, American Control Conference, 2012.
32. Somayeh Sojoudi, Steven H. Low, and John C. Doyle, Effect of buffers on
stability of internet congestion controllers, IEEE International Conference on
Computer Communications (INFOCOM), mini conference, 2011.
33. Somayeh Sojoudi and Steven H. Low, Optimal charging of plug-in hybrid
electric vehicles in smart grids, IEEE Power & Energy Society (PES) General
Meeting, 2011.
34. Somayeh Sojoudi, Javad Lavaei, and Richard M. Murray, Fault tolerant
controller design with applications in power systems and synthetic biology,
American Control Conference, San Francisco, CA, 2011.
35. Javad Lavaei, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Richard M. Murray, Synthesis of
embedded control systems with high sampling frequencies, IEEE Conference on
Decision and Control, 2010.
36. Javad Lavaei, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Richard M. Murray, Simple delay-based
implementation of continuous-time controllers, American Control Conference,
2010.
37. Javad Lavaei and Somayeh Sojoudi, Complexity of checking the existence of a
stabilizing decentralized controller, American Control Conference, 2009.
38. Somayeh Sojoudi, Javad Lavaei, and Amir G. Aghdam, Controllability and
observability of uncertain systems: A robust measure, IEEE Conference on
Decision and Control, 2009.
39. Somayeh Sojoudi and Amir G. Aghdam, Performance analysis for a class of
decentralized control systems, American Control Conference, 2008.
40. Somayeh Sojoudi, Javad Lavaei, and Amir G. Aghdam, Optimal information
flow structure for control of interconnected systems, American Control
Conference, 2007.
41. Somayeh Sojoudi and Amir G. Aghdam, Characterizing all classes of LTI
stabilizing structurally constrained controllers by means of combinatorics, IEEE
Conference on Decision and Control, 2007.
42. Javad Lavaei, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Amir Aghdam, Rational optimization using
sum-of-squares techniques, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 2007.
43. Javad Lavaei, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Amir Aghdam, Pole assignment with
improved control performance by means of periodic feedback, IEEE Conference
on Decision and Control, 2007.
44. Javad Lavaei, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Amir Aghdam, Stability criterion for
general proper systems with constrained control structure, American Control
Conference, 2007.
Book
•
Somayeh Sojoudi, Javad Lavaei and Amir G. Aghdam, Structurally constrained
control: Analysis and synthesis, Springer, 2011.
Book Chapter
•
Javad Lavaei, Somayeh Sojoudi, and Amir G. Aghdam, Mohammadpour and
Grigoriadis Editors, Robust control of large-scale systems: Cost-effective
information flow structure, efficient modeling and control of large-scale systems,
Springer, 2010.
Theses
•
Mathematical Study of Complex Networks: Brain, Internet, and Power Grid, Ph.D.
thesis, Control and Dynamical Systems, California Institute of Technology, May
2013.
•
Robust Stabilization of Interconnected Systems by Means of Structurally
Constrained Controllers, M.A.Sc. thesis, Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada, July 2007.
Research Areas
•
Neuroscience and neurology:
o Brain networks: analysis and modelling
o Mathematical tools for clinical applications
•
Physiology
o Mathematical modeling of Heart Rate Variability
•
Electrical power systems
o Control and optimization for power systems
o Electric vehicle and smart grid
•
Control
o Decentralized (distributed) control of large-scale systems
o Stability and robust control of uncertain complex systems
•
Communication Networks
o Network Congestion Control
Professional Activities
o
Chair of the session “Control Applications and Nonlinear Control” IEEE 52nd Annual
Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2014.
o
Co-chair of the session “Stochastic Systems and Control” IEEE 52nd Annual Allerton
Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2014.
o
Tutorials and Workshops Co-Chair, IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and
Computer Engineering, 2012.
o
Technical Program Committee Member of the 23rd IEEE Canadian Conference on
Electrical and Computer Engineering 2010, as an Associate Editor of the Control &
Robotics Symposium.
o
Communications Director of IEEE, Control Systems chapter, Montreal section, 20072010.
o
Reviewer of several journals and conferences including IEEE Transactions on
Automatic Control, Automatica, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, IEEE
Transactions on Power Systems, IEEE Systems Journal, Journal of Control Science
and Engineering, IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, American Control
Conference, Power & Energy Society General Meeting, European Control
Conference, IEEE SmartGridComm, and IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical
and Computer Engineering.
Teaching Experience
Teaching Assistant: Feedback Control Theory (Caltech), 2010
Teaching Assistant: Digital Systems Design (Concordia university), 2006-2007