Malcolm Clive Smith is a British
electrical engineer
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
. He is a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of
control engineering
Control engineering, also known as control systems engineering and, in some European countries, automation engineering, is an engineering discipline that deals with control systems, applying control theory to design equipment and systems with d ...
at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
. He is notable for his contributions to
feedback control
Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause and effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to ''feed back'' into itself. The notion of cause-and-effect has to be handled ...
and
systems theory
Systems theory is the Transdisciplinarity, transdisciplinary study of systems, i.e. cohesive groups of interrelated, interdependent components that can be natural or artificial. Every system has causal boundaries, is influenced by its context, de ...
. He is also the inventor of the
inerter, used in mechanical
network synthesis
Network synthesis is a design technique for linear electrical circuits. Synthesis starts from a prescribed impedance function of frequency or frequency response and then determines the possible networks that will produce the required response. ...
.
Career
Smith studied at the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
(BA 1978, MPhil 1979, PhD 1982);
his doctoral thesis was entitled "A Generalised Nyquist/Root-Locus Theory for Multi-Loop Feedback Systems". He worked in various research and academic posts, becoming an assistant professor at
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
. In 1990, he moved to the
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
where he became a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of
control engineering
Control engineering, also known as control systems engineering and, in some European countries, automation engineering, is an engineering discipline that deals with control systems, applying control theory to design equipment and systems with d ...
and a fellow of
Gonville and Caius College
Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges an ...
.
Smith's research has dealt with both theoretical contributions to control and practical applications, particularly in the automotive and motorsport domains. A notable contribution was the development of the
inerter,
' which removed some of the previous limitations on passive
network synthesis
Network synthesis is a design technique for linear electrical circuits. Synthesis starts from a prescribed impedance function of frequency or frequency response and then determines the possible networks that will produce the required response. ...
. When awarding him a fellowship, the
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines.
The IEEE ...
cited Smith's 'contributions to feedback control and systems theory'.
As of early 2014, Smith is head of the Control Group within the
University of Cambridge's Department of Engineering.
Awards
Smith has received the following notable awards:
* A Fellowship of the
Royal Academy of Engineering
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering.
The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...
,
awarded in 2012.
* A Fellowship of the
IEEE
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines.
The IEEE ...
, awarded in 2002.
References
Further reading
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Malcolm Clive
Members of the University of Cambridge Department of Engineering
Alumni of the University of Cambridge
British electrical engineers
Control theorists
Fellows of the IEEE
Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Engineering professors at the University of Cambridge