Efstratios N. (Stratos) Pistikopoulos is a distinguished research

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 ...

at the Department of

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

, as well as the director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute. From 1991-2015, he was a professor for chemical engineering at

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

, where he pioneered multi-parametric programming and invented the concept of explicit or multi-parametric model predictive control. He has authored and co/authored more than 350 peer reviewed journal

articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article(s) may also refer to: ...

, authored and/or edited 9

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

s and has been an invited speaker to many academic conferences and lectures, including the 21st Professor Roger W. H. Sargent lecture at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

(held on 4 December 2014) entitled "Multi-Parametric Programming & Control 25 years later: what is next?". Additionally, Pistikopoulos has been elected a

fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in United K ...

in 2013.

Education

Pistikopoulos received his

diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offi ...

in chemical engineering from

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki ( AUTh; ), often called the University of Thessaloniki, is the second oldest tertiary education institution in Greece. Named after the philosopher Aristotle, who was born in Stageira, about east of Thessa ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in 1984. Following which he pursued a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

where he worked under the supervision of Ignacio Grossmann. He graduated in 1988; his

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

was entitled "Systematic procedures to improve process flexibility in retrofit design". After working with

Shell Chemicals Shell Chemicals is the petrochemicals arm of Shell plc. The name "Shell Chemicals" refers to the nearly seventy companies engaged in chemicals businesses for Shell, which together make up one of the largest petrochemical producers in the world. T ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, he joined Imperial College London in 1991 as an assistant professor.

Professional career

Pistikopoulos served as the director of the Centre for

Process Systems Engineering Process engineering is a field of study focused on the development and optimization of industrial processes. It consists of the understanding and application of the fundamental principles and laws of nature to allow humans to transform raw ma ...

at Imperial College London from 2002 to 2009. Pistikopoulos joined the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering at

in 2015 as the TEES Distinguished Research Professor, with a simultaneous appointment as the associate director of the Texas A&M Energy Institute. He was appointed as the director of the institute in 2018. Since 2020, Pistikopoulos has also held the Dow Chemical Chair. He is also the founder/director of Parametric Optimization Solutions (ParOS Ltd), as well as the co-founder of PSE Ltd, where he currently serves as a senior strategic advisor. Pistikopoulos has been the (co-)recipient of the

MacRobert Award The MacRobert Award is regarded as the leading prize recognising UK innovation in engineering by corporations. The winning team receives a gold medal and a cash sum of £50,000. The annual award process begins with an invitation to companies to ...

from 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 ...

in 2007, the Advances Investigator Award from the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

in 2008, holding the Bayer Lecture in Process Systems Engineering at

in 2009 and delivering the 21st Roger W.H. Sargent lecture at Imperial College in 2014. Additionally, he received the Computing in Chemical Engineering Award of the Computing and Systems Technology division of the

American Institute of Chemical Engineers The American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) is a professional organization for chemical engineers. AIChE was established in 1908 to distinguish chemical engineers as professionals independent of chemists and mechanical engineers. Curr ...

in 2012 and was awarded the title of Doctor

Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest (UB) () is a public university, public research university in Bucharest, Romania. It was founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely Academy of Bucharest, P ...

in 2014, and from the

University of Pannonia The University of Pannonia ( Hungarian ''Pannon Egyetem'', formerly known as ''Veszprémi Egyetem'') is a university with its main campus in Veszprém, Hungary. It was founded in 1949 and is organized in four faculties: Humanities, Engineering, ...

in 2015. In 2013, he was elected fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in the United Kingdom. Pistikopoulos currently has a ''h''-index of 72. Pistikopoulos was awarded the 2020 Sargent Medal, which is named after Roger W. H. Sargent, by the

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. The Institution has offices in Rugby, Warwickshire, ...

Research interests

* The development of

parametric programming Parametric programming is a type of mathematical optimization, where the optimization problem is solved as a function of one or multiple parameters. Developed in parallel to sensitivity analysis, its earliest mention can be found in a thesis from 1 ...

theory, as well as the development of novel

algorithms In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of mathematically rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for per ...

and solution procedures for certain classes of problems. * The application of parametric programming to

model predictive control Model predictive control (MPC) is an advanced method of process control that is used to control a process while satisfying a set of constraints. It has been in use in the process industries in chemical plants and oil refineries since the 1980s. I ...

, which allows for the explicit solution of the underlying optimization problem, hence removing the necessity of online optimization * The use and refinement of the PAROC Framework and software platform, a unified framework and software platform for the design, operational optimization and model-based control of process systems. * Research regarding energy systems engineering, with a particular focus on holistic, system-based approach producing optimal design and operational plans for multi-scale systems. * Biomedical systems engineering, and in particular the use of an interdisciplinary approach towards the modelling and optimization of biomedical systems * Sustainable manufacturing, which includes aspects such as process integration, pollution prevention and process sustainability.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pistikopoulos, Efstratios N. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Greek chemical engineers Texas A&M University faculty Scientists from Thessaloniki