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About Surendra Singh Lamba (1936-2004)

December 30, 2006 marked Surendra's 70th birth anniversary.

Surendra Singh Lamba was born on December 30, 1936 to Gurbachan Singh (born to Gopal Singh and Gurdae Kaur) and Har Kaur (born to Jwahar Singh Johar and Lakhami Kaur) in Peshawar, India (now in Pakistan).

He was educated at the Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T., Kharagpur, West Bengal, India) and received his doctorate from the University of New Brunswick (U.N.B., Canada) while on a Commonwealth Scholarship under the guidance of Robert J. Kavanagh. He was a senior member of I.E.E.E. and served as chair of electrical engineering at I.I.T. (New Delhi, India).

Surendra was a "merit list" performer during his secondary (grade 10) and higher secondary (grade 12) education. When he joined I.I.T. in 1954, Kharagpur was the only campus. Now there are several campuses, one in each of India's major cities. Since entrance examinations weren't introduced until 1955, Surendra's batch was the last one admitted on the basis of grade 12 performance and an interview. There was, however, an annual scholarship examination, which Surendra topped in 1954.

Surendra held visiting assignments at the Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University, England), the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (U.M.I.S.T., England), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (C.N.R.S., Paris, France), Wayne State University (W.S.U., Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.), B.H.P. (Australia), and the Northern Territory University (N.T.U., Darwin, Australia).

Surendra, once an avid singer, suffered since 1989 from what has preliminarily been diagnosed as leukodystrophy.

Sometime in the 1980s, Surendra started spelling his name Surinder, perhaps in order to distinguish the Punjabi/Sikh spelling from the Hindi/Hindu one. Surinder, the Punjabi/Sikh spelling, is phonetically a closer match to the way Surendra's mother pronounced his name. The way names were recorded during the time of his birth probably contributed to the confusion. Typically, parents would verbalize the name and an official would write it down using a spelling according to his/her own preference and/or knowledge. His official name remained Surendra and is, therefore, used here.

Surendra passed away in his sleep around 11 p.m. on July 6, 2004 at Sydney, Australia due to complications resulting from leukodystrophy.

Surendra married Jagdish Kaur on July 12, 1964. Surendra and Jagdish raised three children (in chronological order):


Sanyukta and Steve, during "sari night" on the eve of their wedding - Vanuatu, South Pacific - Sep. 30, 2005



Manaro Volcano, shooting steam, gas and ash up to 1,500 meters (4,500 feet) into the air - Ambae Island, Vanuatu, South Pacific - Dec. 7, 2005



Harmeet with wife, Guneet, and son, Anhad, celebrating Lohri - Sydney, Australia - Jan. 13, 2003



Harmeet and Anhad celebrating Lohri - Sydney, Australia - Jan. 13, 2003



L to R: (sitting) Jagdish and Surendra; (standing) Puneet and Samita - Bombay, India - Jul., 1996



Puneet, Sanyukta, and Harmeet, wearing Modern School uniforms - 6 New Campus, I.I.T., New Delhi, India - 1983



Surendra - London, England - 1974


Surendra and Jagdish - New York, N.Y. - 1968

Surendra's Students

The degree in brackets represents the one supervised by Surendra, not the highest degree eventually attained by the student.

Inderpal Singh Mumick (B.Tech., I.I.T., New Delhi, 1986) is founder and C.E.O. of Savera and Kirusa. Inderpal received the President's Gold Medal for his undergraduate efforts. He is the author of fifteen issued patents, over ten patent pending applications, and over 40 technical papers in leading journals and conferences. He is the co-editor of Materialized Views: Techniques, Implementations, and Applications and is a frequent speaker at conferences and trade shows around the world. His work on recursion in S.Q.L. has been incorporated into the S.Q.L. 3 standard and his work on query optimization has been incorporated into I.B.M.'s DB2 database. Inderpal is an international authority on materialized views technology. His work on materialized views has influenced the implementation of materialized views in the Oracle 8i database.

Ram Nath (Ph.D., I.I.T., New Delhi) is with Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (B.H.E.L.) and is on the Executive Committee for I.E.E.E.'s New Delhi chapter.

Bijnan Bandyopadhyay (Ph.D., I.I.T., New Delhi) is Professor & Convener, Interdisciplinary Program in Systems & Control Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T.), Bombay, India.

Vittal Srirangam Rao (Ph.D., I.I.T., New Delhi, 1975) is the William A. Rutledge Emerson Electric Distinguished Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

A.S. Rao (Ph.D., I.I.T., New Delhi).

Avtar Singh (M.Tech., I.I.T., New Delhi, 1969-1971) is professor and graduate program coordinator for electrical engineering at the San Jose State University (S.J.S.U.).

Syed Ismail Ahson (M.Tech., I.I.T., New Delhi, 1971) is founder and professor at the Department of Computer Science at the Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.

A Partial List of Surendra's Major Publications

  1. S. Soeperwo, S.S. Lamba, and D.J. Patterson: Load forecasting at Djilkminggan Hybrid Power Station using Artificial Neural Network, Journal of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, 18(3), pp. 187-195, Australia, 1998.

  2. H. Singh, B. Bandyopadhyay, and S.S. Lamba: A New Algorithm for Model Reduction by Impulse Step Error Minimization, Proceedings of the I.E.E.E. International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, pp. 3286-3289, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A, 1990.

  3. M. Hanmandlu, S.S. Lamba, and K.K. Biswas: Model Based 3D Object Recognition, 4th International Conference on CAD/CAM: Robotics and Factories of the Future, December 22-29, 1989, New Delhi, India.

  4. M. Hanmandlu, S.S. Lamba, T.J. Ellis, and G. West: Robot Manipulation and Constraint Handling, 20th International Symposium on Industrial Robotics, October 26-29, 1989, Tokyo, Japan.

  5. S.S. Lamba, R. Gorez, and B. Bandyopadhyay: A New Reduction Technique by Step Error Minimization for Multivariable System, International Journal of Systems Science, Vol. 19, No. 6, pp. 999-1009, 1988.

  6. M.M. Ektessaki, C.M. Bhatia, and S.S. Lamba: A Novel Microprocessor Based Modulator for P.W.M. Inverters, 23rd Universities Power Engineering Conference, Trent Polytechnic, U.K., September, 1988.

  7. M.M. Ektessaki, C.M. Bhatia, and S.S. Lamba: A Modified Natural Sampling Strategy for Microprocessor Implementation of P.W.M. Inverters, I.E.C.O.N. Proceedings, 14th Annual Conference of the I.E.E.E. Industrial Electronics Society, Vol. 3, pp. 842-847, Singapore, Oct. 24-28, 1988.

  8. M.M. Ektessaki, C.M. Bhatia, and S.S. Lamba: New Software Strategy for Microprocessor Implementation of three phase P.W.M. Inverter, I.S.M.M. Conference, California, December, 1989.

  9. M.M. Ektessaki, C.M. Bhatia, and S.S. Lamba: A Dedicated Digital Implementation of P.W.M. Inverter, International Conference on Control and Modeling, University of Tehran, Iran, July, 1990.

  10. B. Bandyopadhyay and S.S. Lamba: Time-Domain Pade Approximation and Modal-Pade Method for Multivariable Systems, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Circuits and Systems, Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 91-94, 1987.

  11. S.S. Lamba and B. Bandyopadhyay: Sub-Optimal Control for Linear Multivariable System Using Routh Approximant Model-Singular Perturbation Approach, Proceedings of the 30th Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems, pp. 1362-1365, Syracuse, U.S.A., 1987

  12. B. Bandyopadhyay and S.S. Lamba: Improved Routh Approximations for Single and Multi-Input Systems, Proceedings of the I.E.E.E. International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, pp. 832-835, California, U.S.A., 1986

  13. H. Khurana, S.I. Ahson, and S.S. Lamba: On the Stabilization of Large-Scale Control Systems Using Variable Structure Systems Theory, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 31 , pp. 176-178, 1986.

  14. R. Nath and S.S. Lamba: Development of Coherency-Based Time Domain Equivalent Model Using Structure Constraints, I.E.E. Proceedings, Vol. 133, Part C, No. 4, pp. 165-175, May 1986.

  15. H. Khurana, S.I. Ahson, and S.S. Lamba: Variable Structure Control Design for Large-Scale Systems, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Vol.16, pp. 573-576, 1986.

  16. S.S. Lamba and B. Bandyopadhyay, An Improvement on Routh Approximation Technique, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 31, No. 11, pp. 1147-1150, 1986.

  17. R. Nath, S.S. Lamba, and K.S. Prakasa Rao: Coherency-Based System Decomposition into Study and External Areas Using Weak Coupling, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, PAS-104(6), pp. 1443-1449, Jun. 1985.

  18. S.I. Ahson and S.S. Lamba: The Use of FORTH Language in Process Control, Journal of Computer Languages, Vol. 10, Number 3-4, pp. 179-187, 1985.

  19. R. Nath, S.S. Lamba, and K.S. Prakasa Rao: Coherency-Based System Decomposition Into Study and External Areas Using Weak Coupling: I.E.E.E. Transactions on Power Apparatus and Systems, P.A.S.-104(6):1443-1449, June 1985.

  20. S.S. Lamba and R. Nath: Coherency Identification By the Method of Weak Coupling, Electrical Power and Energy Systems, 7(4), pp. 233-242, 1985.

  21. B. Bandyopadhyay and S.S. Lamba: Time-Domain Modal-Pade Method for Reducing the Order of Linear Time Invariant Systems, Proceedings of the I.E.E.E. International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, pp. 834-837, Montreal, Canada, 1984

  22. B. Bandyopadhyay and S.S. Lamba: Time-Domain Routh Approximation for Multi-Input Multi-Output Systems, Proceedings of the International Conference on Computers, Systems, and Signal Processing, pp. 472-476, Bangalore, India, 1984

  23. H. Khurana, S.S. Lamba, and S.I. Ahson: Variable-Structure Load-Frequency Design Using a Geometric Approach, National Systems Conference, Bombay, India, 1984.

  24. S.I. Ahson, S.S. Lamba, M.C. Chaube, and N.C. Chandra: A Microprocessor-Based Multiloop Process Controller, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Industrial Electronics, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 34-39, 1983.

  25. R. Nath, P. Jagannath, S.S. Lamba and B.C. Nakra: Control Setting Optimisation for a Power Plant Using Orthogonal Array Technique, V. Power Plant Dynamics, Control & Testing Symp., University of Tennessee, U.S.A., 1983.

  26. A.S. Rao, S.S. Lamba, and B. Bandyopadhyay: Choice of Model Order for Multivariable System, International Journal of System Sciences, Vol. 14, No. 10, pp. 1171-1183, 1983.

  27. B. Bandyopadhyay and S.S. Lamba: An Improvement on Routh Approximation Technique, Proceedings of the National System Conference, Trivandrum, India, pp. XIV 5.1-5.11, 1983

  28. S.S. Lamba, B. Bandyopadhyay, G. Michailesco, and P. Bertrand: Comparison of Optimal Aggregation and Routh Approximation Method of Model Reduction for Large Multivariable Systems, Proceedings of the I.A.S.T.E.D. Conference on Measurement and Control, Greece, pp. 57-60, 1983.

  29. S.S. Lamba and S.V. Rao: Aggregation Matrix for the Reduced-Order Continued-Fraction Expansion Model of Chen and Shieh - Reply, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. AC-25, No. 1, pp. 134-135, 1980.

  30. A.S. Rao, S.S. Lamba and S.V. Rao: Comments on Model Reduction Using the Routh Stability Criterion, I.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. AC-24, No. 3, p. 518, Jun., 1979.

  31. S.S. Lamba and S.V. Rao: Aggregation Matrix for the Reduced-Order Continued-Fraction Expansion Model of Chen and Shieh - Reply, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. AC-24, No. 2, pp. 376-377, 1979.

  32. A.S. Rao, S.S. Lamba, and S.V. Rao: On Simplification of Unstable Systems Using Routh Approximation Technique, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. AC-23, No. 5, pp. 943-944, Oct. 1978.

  33. S.S. Lamba and S. Vittal Rao: Aggregation Matrix for the Reduced Order Continued Fraction Expansion Model of Chen and Shieh, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, Vol. 23, pp. 81-83, 1978.

  34. A.S. Rao, S.S. Lamba and S.V. Rao: Routh Approximate in Time Domain Reduced Order Models for Single Input Single Output Systems, Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Vol. 125, Part D, pp. 1059-1062, 1978.

  35. S. Vittal Rao and S.S. Lamba: Suboptimal Control of Linear Systems via Simplified Models of Chidambara - Reply, I.E.E. Proceedings, Vol. 122, No. 7, p. 760, 1975, London.

  36. S. Vittal Rao and S.S. Lamba: Eigenvalue Assignment in Linear Optimal-Control Systems via Reduced-Order Models, I.E.E. Proceedings, Vol. 122, No. 2, p. 197-201, 1975, London.

  37. S. Vittal Rao and S.S. Lamba: Suboptimal Control of Linear Systems via Simplified Models of Chidambara, I.E.E. Proceedings, Vol. 121, No. 8, pp. 879-882, August 1974, London.

  38. S.S. Lamba and S.V. Rao: On Suboptimal Control via the Simplified Model of Davison, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, AC-19, pp. 448-450, 1974.

  39. S.V. Rao and S.S. Lamba: Continued Fraction Inversion by Routh's Algorithm, I.E.E.E. Transactions on Automatic Control, AC-19, pp. 283-284, 1974.

  40. S.S. Lamba and R.J. Kavanagh: Synthesis of Certain Non-linear Systems for Multimodal Operation, Proceedings of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Vol. 120, Issue 8, pp. 919-920, 1973, London.

  41. S.S. Lamba and S. Vittal Rao: Derivation of Aggregation Matrices for Simplified Models of Linear Dynamic Systems and their Application for Optimal Control, Proceedings of the Joint Automatic Control Conference, pp. 498-503, 1972.

  42. S.S. Lamba and Avtar Singh: Synthesis of Hysteresis-free Nonlinear Sharp-cutoff Filters, Electronics Letters, September 21, 1972, pp. 488-489.

  43. S.S. Lamba and R.J. Kavanagh: The Phenomenon of Isolated Jump Resonance and its Application, Proceedings of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Vol. 118, pp. 1047-1050, 1971.

  44. S.S. Lamba and Y.P. Singh: Distributed Computer Control Systems, Tata McGraw-Hill (T.M.H.) Publications, New Delhi.

  45. S.V. Rao and S.S. Lamba: A New Frequency Domain Technique for the Simplification of Linear Dynamic Systems, International Journal of Control, Vol. 20.

  46. A.S. Rao. S.S. Lamba, and S.V. Rao: Comments on a note on selecting a low order system by DaLison's model simplificailon technique, I.E.E.E. Trurls . . ., ?

Surendra's Friends and Colleagues

M. Zia Doja

  • General Manager, Carrier Services, Bell Canada
  • Wife, Tahera
  • Daughter, Sophia (Granddaughter, Maaria, was born February 2002)
  • Son, Asif, married Megan Harrison; wedding reception at Hull (Quebec, Canada) on August 6, 2005

    Surinder K. Chopra
  • Retired from C.N. Rail, now consulting part-time
  • Wife, Sukhi
  • Sons, Anurag and Naveen, both married
  • Grandaughters, Amy and Sophie
  • Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

    Brij Mohan Vaish
  • Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical), Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee (India)
  • M.B.A., Delhi University
  • Managing Director, Indian Technological Products (I.T.P.) Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, India
  • Wife, Manju
  • Son, Pavan
  • Daughter, Arti

    Harpreet Singh
  • Professor of electrical and computer engineering, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
  • Wife, Devinder Kaur
  • Son, Navdeep, is studying engineering at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

    Madan G. Singh (1946-2002)
  • Professor of Information Engineering, Department of Computation, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (U.M.I.S.T.)
  • Chairman, Knowledge Support Systems Group plc
  • Son, Harkrishan

    P.C.P. Bhatt (Pramod Chandra)
  • Former professor of computer science and engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi, India
  • Wife, Varsha
  • Daughter, Ritu
  • Son, Ulhas

    Derek P. Atherton
  • Research professor of engineering and design, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, East Sussex, U.K.
  • President, I.E.E.E. Control Systems Society, 1995

    Robert J. Kavanagh
  • Surendra's Ph.D. supervisor
  • Dean of graduate studies and professor of electrical engineering, U.N.B.
  • Director-general of N.S.E.R.C.'s scholarships and international program, Ottawa
  • Retired since April 2000