Chris Vermillion
Associate Professor

- cvermil@ncsu.edu
- Engineering Building III (EB3) 3292
- Visit My Website
Dr. Vermillion’s interests lie in the application of optimal control and design optimization tools to cutting-edge problems in renewable energy and energy efficiency. He is particularly interested in the development of tethered systems for harnessing wind and marine hydrokinetic energy, in addition to the use of connected and autonomous vehicles to realize substantial fuel economy improvements over conventional vehicles.
Dr. Vermillion’s research requires strong mathematical fundamentals, as well as the ability to integrate knowledge and critical thinking skills from multiple domains (e.g., control theory, dynamics, and computer aided design) to perform cohesive and practically relevant research. As such, he looks for students who are not only adept in mathematical and control theoretic fundamentals but can also identify and apply knowledge from multiple relevant areas to address research problems.
Education
Electrical Engineering
University of Michigan
Electrical Engineering
University of Michigan
Aerospace Engineering
University of Michigan
Mechanical Engineering
University of Michigan
Honors and Awards
- UNC-Charlotte College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award, 2017
- UNC-Charlotte Maxheim Faculty Fellowship, 2016
- NSF CAREER Award, 2015
Grants
- Persistent Mission Planning and Control for Renewably Powered Robotic Systems
- National Science Foundation (NSF)(6/01/20 - 5/31/23)
- LEG-h: Long Endurance Glider, Heavy
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)(2/24/20 - 1/25/21)
- Collaborative Research: Workshop on Integrated Design of Active Dynamic Systems
- National Science Foundation (NSF)(9/01/19 - 8/31/21)
- CAREER: Efficient Experimental Optimization for High-Performance Airborne Wind Energy Systems
- National Science Foundation (NSF)(8/16/18 - 8/31/21)
- Collaborative Research: An Economic Iterative Learning Control Framework with Application to Airborne Wind Energy Harvesting
- National Science Foundation (NSF)(8/16/18 - 8/31/21)
- Collaborative Research: Multi-Scale, Multi-Rate Spatiotemporal Optimal Control with Application to Airborne Wind Energy Systems
- National Science Foundation (NSF)(8/16/18 - 8/31/20)
- Maximizing Vehicle Fuel Economy Through the Real-Time, Collaborative, and Predictive Co-Optimization of Routing, Speed, and Powertrain Control
- US Dept. of Energy (DOE) - Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)(7/01/18 - 3/27/20)
- Device Design and Robust Periodic Motion Control of an Ocean Kite System for Hydrokinetic Energy Harvesting
- US Dept. of Energy (DOE) - Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy (EERE)(5/01/19 - 10/31/20)