Professor Zoltan Nagy

BSc MSc PhD AMI MIEEE

  • Professor of Process Systems Engineering
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headshot of Zoltan

Background:

Zoltan K Nagy received his BSc in Chemical Engineering (1993) an MSc in Catalysis and Biocatalysis (1994) and a PhD in Chemical Engineering (2001) from the "Babes-Bolyai" University of Cluj, Romania. From 1995 to 2005 he held Assistant and Associate Professor positions at the same university. In 1996 he was Visiting Research Scientist and Visiting Lecturer at the University of the South, Sewanee, TN, SUA. In 1997 he was honorary research assistant (Tempus Fellow) in the CTI (Computers in Teaching Initiative) Centre for Chemistry, University of Liverpool, UK.

From 1998 to 2001 he held several Visiting Researcher positions at ETH Zurich, Switzerland (1999), the University of Stuttgart and University of Heidelberg, Germany (2000), and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (2000). From 2001 to 2002 he was NSF-NATO Research Fellow, and from 2002 to 2003 visiting lecturer at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. From 2003 to 2005, Dr Nagy worked as a senior research associate at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he worked in collaboration with BASF and ABB on industrial projects. Dr Nagy joined º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ in August 2005 was promoted to Senior Lecturer in February 2007 and to Professor in July 2010.

Key awards:

  • 2011-2016 - European Research Council (ERC) Research Fellow
  • 2010 – Runner up (and third place in 2011) for the “The innovator of the year award” of the 2010 IChemE Awards for Innovations and Excellence.
  • “Most Highly Cited Paper in Journal of Process Control in the period 2005-2010”, (2010)
  • “Chemical Research Collaboration Success Award”, Council for Chemical Research, USA, (2009)
  • “Journal of Process Control Best Paper Award”, (2008)
  • “Control Engineering Practice Best Paper Award”, (2008)
  • “ESCAPE18 Best Paper Award”, 18th European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering, Lyon, France, (2008)
  • “Tudor Tanasescu Award of the Romanian Academy of Science”, (2008)

Outline of main research interests:

  • Pharmaceutical and Crystallisation Systems Engineering
  • Mathematical modelling, monitoring and control of crystallization systems
  • Process analytical technologies and chemometrics
  • Population balance modelling and computation fluid dynamics
  • Nonlinear model predictive control and estimation, Robust optimal control, Batch process control
  • Sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of chemical, biomedical and biological systems
  • Mathematical modelling for optimization and control of chemical processes and plant-wide control
  • Applications of artificial intelligence techniques in chemical process modelling, analysis and control
  • Virtual instrumentation, E-learning and Telelaboratory in Chemical Engineering Education

Selected publications

  1. Szilagyi, B., Nagy, Z.K. (2019) Model-based analysis and quality-by-design framework for high aspect ratio crystals in crystallizer-wet mill systems using GPU acceleration enabled optimization. Computers and Chemical Engineering, 126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2019.04.025
  2. Fysikopoulos, D., Benyahia, B., Borsos, A., Nagy, Z.K., Rielly, C.D. (2019) A framework for model reliability and estimability analysis of crystallization processes with multi-impurity multi-dimensional population balance models. Computers and Chemical Engineering, 122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2018.09.007
  3. Onyemelukwe, I.I., Benyahia, B., Reis, N.M., Nagy, Z.K., Rielly, C.D. (2018) The heat transfer characteristics of a mesoscale continuous oscillatory flow crystalliser with smooth periodic constrictions. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, 123. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.03.015
  4. Su, Q., Rielly, C.D., Powell, K.A., Nagy, Z.K. (2017) Mathematical modelling and experimental validation of a novel periodic flow crystallization using MSMPR crystallizers. AIChE Journal, 63(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/aic.15510
  5. Szilágyi, B., Nagy, Z.K. (2016) Graphical processing unit (GPU) acceleration for numerical solution of population balance models using high resolution finite volume algorithm. Computers and Chemical Engineering, 91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compchemeng.2016.03.023
  6. Su, Q., Nagy, Z.K., Rielly, C.D. (2015) Pharmaceutical crystallisation processes from batch to continuous operation using MSMPR stages: Modelling, design, and control. Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification, 89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2015.01.001
  7. Powell, K.A., Bartolini, G., Wittering, K.E., Saleemi, A.N., Wilson, C.C., Rielly, C.D., Nagy, Z.K. (2015) Toward Continuous Crystallization of Urea-Barbituric Acid: A Polymorphic Co-Crystal System. Crystal Growth and Design, 15(10). https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.cgd.5b00599

Professional affiliations:

  • Associate member of IChemE
  • Member of the British Association for Crystal Growth (BACG)
  • Executive Committee member of BACG (2007 – 2008)
  • Member of Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE)
  • Member of IEEE Control Systems Society
  • Member of the IEEE Technical Committee on Industrial Process Control
  • Committee member of the IChemE Process Management and Control subject group (2011 – date)

External appointments:

  • Member of the awards committee and Chair of the Young Author Prize Selection Committee, for the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) (2011-2014)
  • Elected UK representative for the European Federation of Chemical Engineering (EFChE) Crystallisation Working Party (2010-date).
  • Elected member of the Steering Committee of the American Association for Crystallization Technology (2012 - date)
  • Associate Editor, Optimal Control Applications and Methods (2014-date)
  • Guest Editor (with Mohd Rushdi Abu Bakar and Hazrina Ab Hadi) of the Special issue on Green Industrial Pharmacy for Chemical Engineering Research and Design (2014).
  • Guest Editor (with Richard Braatz) of the Special Issue on Advanced Control of Chemical Processes (ADCHEM) for Journal of Process Control. (2013-2014)

Selected invited and keynote lectures:

  • ZK Nagy, Recent Advances in the Integrated Process Analytical Technology Based Control of Crystallization Systems, Particulate Systems Analysis 2014, Manchester, UK, September, 2014 (plenary lecture)
  • ZK Nagy, Process analytical technology based control approaches for the greener production of pharmaceutical solids, International Conference on Industrial Pharmacy 2014, Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia, August 20-21, 2014 (Keynote lecture).
  • ZK Nagy, Monitoring, modelling and control of polymorphic crystallization processes, Polymorphism Masterclass, Mumbai, India, 18-19 November, 2013 (Plenary panel lecture)
  • ZK Nagy, Advanced control of pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, Lilly-Purdue Technology Day, Eli Lilly, Indianapolis, IN, USA, September 30, 2013 (Plenary lecture).
  • ZK Nagy, Advanced Process Control in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, The Future of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, NIPTE Research Conference, The University at Shady Grove, Rockville, MD, USA, June 19, 2013 (Invited talk).
  • ZK Nagy, Recent advances in the model-based and model-free control of crystallization systems, AbbVie, Chicago, USA, June 5, 2013 (Invited talk)

Organising / scientific committee of international conferences:

  • International Program Area co-chair (Batch process modelling), International Symposium on Advanced Control of Chemical Processes (ADCHEM 2015), July, 2015, Canada (2015).
  • Member of the Program Committee, American Control Conference (ACC), July 1-3, 2015 Chicago, IL, USA (2015).
  • Member of the International Programming Committee, PSE-2015/ESCAPE25, May 31- June 4, 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark (2015).
  • Member of the International Scientific Committee, 12th Particulate Systems Analysis 2014, September, U.K. (2014)
  • Member of Programme Committee, 11th International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics (ICINCO 2014), 1-3 September, Vienna, Austria (2014).
  • Member of International Scientific Committee, 5th International Conference on Population Balance Modelling (PBM 2013), September 11-13, Bangalore, India (2013)
  • Member of the Scientific Committee and Section Organizer and Chair for the section on Continuous Crystallization 19th ACT Larson Workshop on Crystallization Technologies, October 6-9, Indianapolis, IN, USA (2013).
  • Member of International Programme Committee, IEEE Multi-Conference on Systems and Control (MSC), Symposium on Computer-Aided Control System Design and Systems with Uncertainty (CACSD-SU), August 27-30, Hyderabad, India (2013).