Professor Eric S Fraga, PhD

Dr Eric Fraga is Professor of Process Systems Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University College London (UCL) and a member of the Sargent Centre for Process Systems Engineering (CPSE). He joined UCL in 1996 with as an EPSRC Advanced Research Fellow. Prior to this, he was a Senior Research Fellow in the Departments of Chemical Engineering and Mathematics & Statistics at the University of Edinburgh from 1989 to 1996. He was awarded his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo (Canada) in 1988. In 2012-2013, he held the Santos Chair of Energy & Resources at UCL Australia where he was also the Academic Director.

Professor Fraga's research lies at the interfaces between industrial engineering, mathematics and computer science. His research broadly falls into two categories: the development of new computational methodologies for computational systems engineering and the design and implementation of computer interfaces for aiding engineers in the use of advanced computational tools in design. In the course of his research, Professor Fraga has developed the Jacaranda system for automated design and process optimisation and the Strawberry and Fresa nature-inspired evolutionary optimisation methods.

Professor Fraga has on-going collaborations with partners across the world. These collaborations include the design of fundamental optimisation algorithms for complex problems that arise in industrial, chemical, and nuclear engineering, integrated energy systems, water processing for shale gas extraction, the design and optimisation of bio-fuel production processes (primarily for ethanol production) and waste processing in biofuel production.

Professor Fraga has published over 175 articles in international peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings and has obtained funding for his research from UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), the European Commission, NATO and the British Council as well as from industry.

Further details are available in his personal web pages.