Timothy Teatro

Postdoctoral Fellow

Ingenuity Labs Research Institute

Smith Engineering

Mitchell Hall, Room 245

Dr. Timothy A.V. Teatro is a postdoctoral fellow at the Ingenuity Labs Research Institute under the supervision of Prof. Joshua Marshall and Prof. Kean Birch (York University).

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A postdoctoral fellow at the Ingenuity Labs Research Institute, Dr. Timothy A.V. Teatro's current research, supervised by Prof. Joshua Marshall and Prof. Kean Birch (York University), centers on large scale network control and swarm robotics. This research has a particular focus on the core technologies of Trellis Transit Technologies, Inc., a co-founding industry partner of Connected Minds. Tim holds a BSc (Hons) in Physics, an MSc in Materials Science and a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

As an inquisitive polymath, Tim's research has spanned a variety of topics including computational quantum mechanics and quantum chemistry, photovoltaics, forensic physics, nuclear reactor control, mobile robotics, computer science and software engineering. As a child, he marveled at the notion of consciousness as nature's way of understanding itself from within. This fascination with the fundamental and the abstract led him to adopt applied category theory as a potent framework for describing relationship and conceptualising open and interconnected dynamical (cyberphysical) systems. He has been awarded funding from Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for humanitarian research in elder care robots and has been funded by Defence Research and Development Canada developing autonomous systems for defence and security that foster trust between soldiers, civilians and robots.

In addition to his research Tim is also a passionate educator. He is an adjunct faculty member at his alma mater, has been a contributing editor to several open-licence high school textbooks and visits school classrooms around the greater Toronto area, sharing his passion for science and technology with future generations.

In service to secular humanism, he is the current president of PSAC Local 555, the union of adjunct faculty, teaching and research assistants and postdoctoral fellows at Ontario Tech University.

In industry, Tim has served as Chief Technology Officer, scientific fraud Investigator, and holds a patent for a multimedia enabled smart device in the food service industry. Now, as Principal Engineering Scientist at Trellis Transit Technologies Inc., he helps drive a startup bent on revolutionizing urban life with clean, reliable, and safe personalized public transport infrastructure—a stand against the gridlock of conventional corridor-based infrastructure. In lab, classroom, or city, Tim pursues a singular aim: to illuminate the world through reason and ingenuity by applying the methods and tools of science.

Peer Review Articles

T. A. V. Teatro, J. M. Eklund, and R. Milman, “Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Omnidirectional Robot Motion Planning and Tracking With Avoidance of Moving Obstacles,” Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, vol. 37, no. 3, p. 151, 2014. (Invited article)
Z. A. Ibrahim, A. I. Shkrebtii, T. A. V. Teatro, W. Richter, M. J. G. Lee, and L. Henderson, “Theory of the temperature dependent dielectric function of semiconductors: from bulk to surfaces with application to GaAs and Si,” Physica Status Solidi (B), vol. 247, no. 8, pp. 1881–1888, 2010.
Z. A. Ibrahim, A. I. Shkrebtii, M. J. G. Lee, K. Vynck, T. A. V. Teatro, W. Richter, T. Trepk, and T. Zettler, “Temperature dependence of the optical response: Application to bulk GaAs using first-principles molecular dynamics simulations,” Physical Review B, vol. 77, no. 12, pp. 1–5, 2008.

Academic Theses

T. A. V. Teatro, “Categories in control systems software: Toward a unified theory of programming & control,” Ontario Tech University, 2023.
T. A. V. Teatro, “Dynamical effects in crystalline solid state systems: theory of temperature dependent optical response of bulk GaAs and vibrational modification of C(111) × 1 surface in comparison to experiment,” University of Ontario Institute of Technology, 2009.

Conference Papers

T. A. V. Teatro, J. M. Eklund, and R. Milman, “Toward a Coalgebraic Model of Control Programs,” in 2022 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE), 2022, pp. 328–335.
T. A. V. Teatro, J. M. Eklund, and R. Milman, “Maybe and Either Monads in Plain C++17,” in Proceedings of the Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2018.
T. A. V. Teatro and J. M. Eklund, “An object oriented framework for a generic model predictive controller,” in Proceedings of the Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2016, pp. 1–4.
T. A. V. Teatro, P. McNelles, and J. M. Eklund, “A Formulation of Rod Based Nonlinear Model Predictive Control of Nuclear Reaction with Temperature Effects and Xenon Poisoning,” in Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Nuclear Engineering, 2015.
T. A. V. Teatro and J. M. Eklund, “Nonlinear model predictive control for omnidirectional robot motion planning and tracking,” in Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2013, pp. 1–4.
F. Gaspari, A. I. Shkrebtii, I. M. Kupchak, T. A. V. Teatro, and L. Henderson, “Computational experiment in non-crystalline materials from first-principles: A case study of vibrations in hydrogenated amorphous silicon,” in International Conference of Computational Methods in Sciences and Engineering, 2012, pp. 939–943.
Z. A. Ibrahim, A. I. Shkrebtii, F. Gaspari, and T. A. V. Teatro, “Correlation of dielectric and vibrational properties of amorphous hydrogenated Si for photovoltaic applications: modeling and experiment,” in IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2010.
F. Gaspari, A. I. Shkrebtii, I. M. Kupchak, T. A. V. Teatro, and Z. A. Ibrahim, “Correlation of a-Si: H properties with hydrogen distribution,” in Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2010, pp. 3671–3675.
A. I. Shkrebtii, Z. A. Ibrahim, I. M. Kupchak, T. A. V. Teatro, F. Gaspari, and D. V. Korbutiak, “Dynamics and bonding of bond-centered hydrogen in amorphous hydrogenated Si: vibrational and optical signatures,” in Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, 2010, pp. 3663–3666.
Z. A. Ibrahim, A. I. Shkrebtii, M. J. G. Lee, T. A. V. Teatro, M. Drago, T. Trepk, and W. Richter, “Lattice Dynamics and the Optical Properties of Semiconductors: Theory of the Temperature Dependent Dielectric Functions of GaAs and Si and Comparison with Experiment,” in International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors, 2010, pp. 61–62.
F. Gaspari, A. I. Shkrebtii, A. Kazakevitch, A. V. Sachenko, I. O. Sokolovsky, N. Kherani, T. A. V. Teatro, and J. Perz, “Photovoltaic applications of hydrogenated amorphous silicon thin films grown by the Saddle Field Glow Discharge Method,” in APS Meeting Abstracts, 2007.
A. I. Shkrebtii, M. J. G. Lee, T. A. V. Teatro, and W. Richter, “Linear optical response of bulk GaAs from finite-temperature lattice dynamics,” in APS Meeting Abstracts, 2005.

Ontario Tech University

2024: ELEE 3100U - Introduction to Control Systems

Mathematical models of systems: differential equations and linear approximations of physical systems; open- and closed-loop control systems: parameter variations, steady-state error, sensitivity analysis; performance of feedback control systems: time-domain performance specifications, transient response, and steady state error; stability analysis: Nyquist and Routh-Hurwitz criterion; frequency response methods; stability in the frequency domain; time domain analysis of control systems.

I redesigned some of the theoretical presentation of classical control systems theory, adding visual intuition of transfer functions using domain colouring. Using colour, animation, and custom developed teaching software, I was able to teach the “dynamics” of transfer functions driven by gain or the addition of controller poles and zeros. For example, see this animation of a “domain coloured” root locus:

Tools such as Bode and Nyquist plots, and Cauchy's argument principle take on very interesting interpretations when viewed through this lens.

Semester: Winter

2023: ELEE 4150U - Advanced Control Systems

Modelling of systems: from State Space (SS) to Transfer Function (TF). Introduction to SISO and MIMO systems. Coordinate transformation of SS models. Linearization of nonlinear systems. Introduction to Lyapunov stability theorems. Explicit solutions to the DE for linear time-invariant (LTI) systems (and properties of these solutions) Notions of controllability and observability. Kalman decomposition. Controller Synthesis: feedforward control, pole assignment, optimal control (LQR). Observer design.

Semester: Winter

2017–2018: SOFE 2850 - Natural Science Foundations for IT

Cover the principles of basic science (physics, chemistry, biology, earth science) as they relate to Information Technology and Software Engineering. Topics covered include time, magnetics, electromagnetics, optics, biological systems, DNA computing, plagues, earth sciences, astrophysics, etc.

I designed the course from scratch. At the time, there were no textbooks that fit the faculty's course description, so I began writing one. Developing a course turned out to be difficult while researching a PhD thesis, but I would like to return to this course in the future.

Semester: Winter

2015: ELEE 3100 - Modern Control Systems

Semester: Winter

2008: PHY 3080U - Electricity and Magnetism II (Substitute/Guest)

A second course in electromagnetism. It continues to build a foundation in electricity and magnetism with discussions of electromotive force, electric currents and the continuity equation, motional electromotive force, electromagnetic induction and Faraday’s law, the induced electric field, and energy in magnetic fields. Electrodynamics before and after Maxwell is presented along with further discussions of conservation laws, and the continuity equation. The course introduces Poynting’s theorem, waves in one dimension, sinusoidal waves, boundary conditions, reflection and transmission and electromagnetic waves in a vacuum, and guided waves.

Semester: Winter

2007–2016: Tutorial Instruction (UOIT)

Code	Title	Year(s)
ELEE 3100U	Introduction to Control Systems	2015 ^A
ELEE 2530U	Complex Analysis for Engineers	2016 ^B
ELEE 2520U	Fundamentals of Electromagnetics	2015
ELEE 2110U	Discrete Mathematics for Engineers	2013
ENGR 1015U	Introduction to Engineering	2015
PHY 2030U	Mechanics I	2009
PHY 2020U	Electricity & Magnetism II	2008 ^B
PHY 2010U	Electricity & Magnetism I	2008
PHY 1810U	Physics for Health Science	2012
PHY 1040U	Physics for Biosciences	2011 ^D
PHY 1020U	Physics II	2007–11
PHY 1010U	Physics I	2007–11

^A I was also the lecturer of the course, my own TA.

^B Also trusted as substitute lecturer when needed.

^D This date is uncertain.

2008–2015: Laboratory Instruction (UOIT)

Code	Title	Year(s)
ELEE 3100U	Introduction to Control Systems	2015
ENGR 1015U	Introduction to Engineering	2015
PHY 1020U	Physics II	2008, 2012 ^A
PHY 1010U	Physics I	2009, 2012 ^A

^A Dates are uncertain.