"Everybody wants to connect the dots, to find the needle of meaning in the haystack of data", Steven Strogatz in The Joy of x.
Welcome to the website of
Prof. Jean-Philippe Noël at KU Leuven
In our research, we enjoy playing with the data sciences to solve mechanical engineering problems. We develop methodologies to take data — to measure it, to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to utilise it, to communicate it. Our work leverages tools from applied mathematics and statistics, system identification and machine learning, nonlinear dynamics, and computational engineering.
We are affiliated with the Robotics, Automation and Mechatronics (RAM) Division of the Mechanical Engineering Department at KU Leuven. We are member of the Motion Estimation, Control and Optimization (MECO) research team.
Our Philosophy
We prefer the general over the specific. We are not linear. We favour simplicity. We value industry. We travel by train. We believe in the marriage of logic and intuition. We publish fewer and shorter. We experiment. We conference, often. We aim at a high signal-to-noise-ratio communication. We (quietly) think that calculus is more important than algebra. We Microsoft but we Overleaf. We -blank- deep learning. We love teaching.
Season's News
SPRING
2023
JUN '23- Prof. Noël sits in the PhD examination committee of Thomas Simpson at ETH Zürich.
JUN '23- Prof. Noël is a guest speaker during the "RESONANCE" summer camp in Toulouse.
MAY '23- We conclude our course on Machine Design with an invited lecture from the Atlas Copco company.
MAY '23- We are invited to contribute to a special issue of the Data Centric Engineering journal.
MAY '23- We publish a paper in Nonlinear Dynamics on the "Video analysis of nonlinear systems".
APR '23- We co-organise with TU Eindhoven the 7th edition of the Workshop on Nonlinear System Identification Benchmarks. Check our great list of keynote speakers! The Workshop is followed by a 2-day intensive course on nonlinear system identification.
APR '23- We submit a research proposal to fund our research on the modelling and control of bio-inspired drones.
WINTER 2022-23
MAR '23- Steven Vreys, PhD student in the group, attends the "Measuring by Light" conference in Delft.
MAR '23- We attend the 42nd Benelux meeting on Systems and Control, with excellent talks by Merijn Floren (nonlinear feedback identification) and Andras Retzler (robot identification).
MAR '23- Prof. Noël is the external examiner at the University of Sheffield for Max Champneys' viva, who wrote a PhD about exactly solving differential equations and performing modal analysis in nonlinear mechanics.
FEB '23- We freshly start the semester with new courses on Machine Design, Finite Elements and Digital Twins.
JAN '23- We submit research proposals for being funded on fundamental topics including the data-driven detection of topology in nonlinear dynamic systems, and more applied projects like the control of autonomous inland ships.
DEC '22- We conclude our course on Machine Engineering with an invited lecture from the I-Care company.
DEC'22- Prof. Noël is a "spotlight speaker" at the Physics Enhancing Machine Learning in Applied Solid Mechanics Workshop organised by the Institute of Physics, in London. The talk is devoted to the modelling from data of nonlinear feedback systems. Slides.