Christopher R. Laughman

Christopher R. Laughman
  • Biography

    Christopher's interests lie in the intersection of the modeling of physical systems and the experimental construction and testing of these systems, including simulation, numerical methods, and fault detection. He has worked on a variety of multi-physical systems, such as thermo-fluid systems and electromechanical energy conversion systems.

  • Recent News & Events


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  • Internships with Chris

    • MS1851: Dynamic Modeling and Control for Grid-Interactive Buildings

      MERL is looking for a highly motivated and qualified candidate to work on modeling for smart sustainable buildings. The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of modeling renewable energy sources, grid-interactive buildings, occupant behavior, and dynamical systems with expertise demonstrated via, e.g., peer-reviewed publications. Hands-on programming experience with Modelica is preferred. The minimum duration of the internship is 12 weeks; start time is flexible. This internship is preferred to be onsite at MERL, but may be done remotely where you live if the COVID pandemic makes it necessary.

    • MS1958: Simulation, Control, and Optimization of Large-Scale Systems

      MERL is seeking a motivated graduate student to research numerical methods pertaining to the simulation, control, and optimization of large-scale systems. Representative applications include large vapor-compression cycles and other multiphysical systems for energy conversion that couple thermodynamic, fluid, and electrical domains. The ideal candidate would have a solid background in numerical methods, control, and optimization; strong programming skills and experience with Julia/Python/Matlab are also expected. Knowledge of the fundamental physics of thermofluid flows (e.g., thermodynamics, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics), nonlinear dynamics, or equation-oriented languages (Modelica, gPROMS) is a plus. The expected duration of this internship is 3 months.

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  • MERL Publications

    •  Paulson, J.A., Sorouifar, F., Laughman, C.R., Chakrabarty, A., "LSR-BO: Local Search Region Constrained Bayesian Optimization for Performance Optimization of Vapor Compression Systems", American Control Conference (ACC), May 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-057 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Paulson2023may,
      • author = {Paulson, Joel A. and Sorouifar, Farshud and Laughman, Christopher R. and Chakrabarty, Ankush},
      • title = {LSR-BO: Local Search Region Constrained Bayesian Optimization for Performance Optimization of Vapor Compression Systems},
      • booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = may,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-057}
      • }
    •  Chinchilla, R., Deshpande, V.M., Chakrabarty, A., Laughman, C.R., "Learning Residual Dynamics via Physics-Augmented Neural Networks: Application to Vapor Compression Cycles", American Control Conference (ACC), May 2023.
      BibTeX TR2023-051 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Chinchilla2023may,
      • author = {Chinchilla, Raphael and Deshpande, Vedang M. and Chakrabarty, Ankush and Laughman, Christopher R.},
      • title = {Learning Residual Dynamics via Physics-Augmented Neural Networks: Application to Vapor Compression Cycles},
      • booktitle = {American Control Conference (ACC)},
      • year = 2023,
      • month = may,
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2023-051}
      • }
    •  Bhattacharya, C., Chakrabarty, A., Laughman, C.R., Qiao, H., "https://iwww.merl.com/TR/camready-4505.pdf", Modeling, Estimation and Control Conference, DOI: 10.1016/​j.ifacol.2022.11.168, December 2022, pp. 99-106.
      BibTeX TR2022-170 PDF
      • @inproceedings{Bhattacharya2022dec,
      • author = {Bhattacharya, Chandrachur and Chakrabarty, Ankush and Laughman, Christopher R. and Qiao, Hongtao},
      • title = {https://iwww.merl.com/TR/camready-4505.pdf},
      • booktitle = {Modeling, Estimation and Control Conference},
      • year = 2022,
      • pages = {99--106},
      • month = dec,
      • doi = {10.1016/j.ifacol.2022.11.168},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-170}
      • }
    •  Chakrabarty, A., Bortoff, S.A., Laughman, C.R., "Simulation Failure Robust Bayesian Optimization for Data-Driven Parameter Estimation", IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, DOI: 10.1109/​TSMC.2022.3216790, December 2022.
      BibTeX TR2022-168 PDF
      • @article{Chakrabarty2022dec2,
      • author = {Chakrabarty, Ankush and Bortoff, Scott A. and Laughman, Christopher R.},
      • title = {Simulation Failure Robust Bayesian Optimization for Data-Driven Parameter Estimation},
      • journal = {IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = dec,
      • doi = {10.1109/TSMC.2022.3216790},
      • url = {https://www.merl.com/publications/TR2022-168}
      • }
    •  Chakrabarty, A., Wichern, G., Laughman, C.R., "Meta-Learning of Neural State-Space Models Using Data From Similar Systems", arXiv, November 2022.
      BibTeX arXiv
      • @article{Chakrabarty2022nov3,
      • author = {Chakrabarty, Ankush and Wichern, Gordon and Laughman, Christopher R.},
      • title = {Meta-Learning of Neural State-Space Models Using Data From Similar Systems},
      • journal = {arXiv},
      • year = 2022,
      • month = nov,
      • url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.07768}
      • }
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  • Videos

  • MERL Issued Patents

    • Title: "Controlling Vapor Compression System Using Probabilistic Surrogate Model"
      Inventors: Chakrabarty, Ankush; Laughman, Christopher; Bortoff, Scott A.
      Patent No.: 11,573,023
      Issue Date: Feb 7, 2023
    • Title: "Extremum Seeking Control with Stochastic Gradient Estimation"
      Inventors: Chakrabarty, Ankush; Danielson, Claus; Bortoff, Scott A.; Laughman, Christopher
      Patent No.: 11,467,544
      Issue Date: Oct 11, 2022
    • Title: "System and Method for Power Optimizing Control of Multi-Zone Heat Pumps"
      Inventors: Bortoff, Scott A.; Burns, Daniel J; Laughman, Christopher; Qiao, Hongtao
      Patent No.: 10,895,412
      Issue Date: Jan 19, 2021
    • Title: "System and Method for Controlling Refrigerant in Vapor Compression System"
      Inventors: Laughman, Christopher; Qiao, Hongtao; Burns, Daniel J; Bortoff, Scott A.
      Patent No.: 10,830,515
      Issue Date: Nov 10, 2020
    • Title: "System and Method for Thermal Comfort Control"
      Inventors: Bortoff, Scott A.; Laughman, Christopher
      Patent No.: 10,767,887
      Issue Date: Sep 8, 2020
    • Title: "System and Method for Controlling Vapor Compression Systems"
      Inventors: Burns, Daniel J; Laughman, Christopher; Bortoff, Scott A.
      Patent No.: 10,495,364
      Issue Date: Dec 3, 2019
    • Title: "Coordinated Operation of Multiple Space-Conditioning Systems"
      Inventors: Laughman, Christopher; Qiao, Hongtao; Burns, Daniel J; Bortoff, Scott A.
      Patent No.: 10,234,158
      Issue Date: Mar 19, 2019
    • Title: "System and Method for Controlling Multi-Zone Vapor Compression Systems"
      Inventors: Burns, Daniel J; Di Cairano, Stefano; Bortoff, Scott A.; Laughman, Christopher
      Patent No.: 10,174,957
      Issue Date: Jan 8, 2019
    • Title: "System and Method for Controlling of Vapor Compression System"
      Inventors: Burns, Dan; Jain, Neera; Laughman, Christopher; Di Cairano, Stefano; Bortoff, Scott A.
      Patent No.: 9,625,196
      Issue Date: Apr 18, 2017
    • Title: "Method For Reconstructing 3D Scenes From 2D Images"
      Inventors: Ramalingam, Srikumar; Taguchi, Yuichi; Pillai, Jaishanker K; Burns, Dan; Laughman, Christopher
      Patent No.: 9,595,134
      Issue Date: Mar 14, 2017
    • Title: "System and Method for Controlling Vapor Compression Systems"
      Inventors: Burns, Dan; Laughman, Christopher; Bortoff, Scott A.
      Patent No.: 9,534,820
      Issue Date: Jan 3, 2017
    • Title: "System and Method for Controlling Temperature and Humidity in Multiple Spaces using Liquid Desiccant"
      Inventors: Laughman, Christopher; Burns, Daniel J; Bortoff, Scott A.; Waters, Richard C.
      Patent No.: 9,518,765
      Issue Date: Dec 13, 2016
    • Title: "Adaptive Control of Vapor Compression System"
      Inventors: Burns, Dan J; Laughman, Christopher
      Patent No.: 9,182,154
      Issue Date: Nov 10, 2015
    • Title: "Controlling Operation of Vapor Compression System"
      Inventors: Nikovski, Daniel N.; Laughman, Christopher; Burns, Dan J
      Patent No.: 8,793,003
      Issue Date: Jul 29, 2014
    • Title: "System and Method for Controlling Operations of Vapor Compression"
      Inventors: Bortoff, Scott A.; Burns, Dan J; Laughman, Christopher
      Patent No.: 8,694,131
      Issue Date: Apr 8, 2014
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