John McPhee, PEng

John McPhee received his degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Acadia University, the Technical University of Nova Scotia, and the University of Waterloo, Canada. He worked at the Université de Liège, Belgium, and Queen’s University, Canada, before taking a faculty position in 1992 at Waterloo, where he is now a Professor in Systems Design Engineering and the Canada Research Chair in Biomechatronic System Dynamics.

Dr. John McPhee is Canada’s leading expert in system dynamics. He has pioneered the mathematical development of graph-theoretic modelling and its application to the unified dynamics of multidisciplinary physical systems. His intellectual achievements, published in 177 journal papers and 309 conference papers and abstracts, have been recognized by the NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation (presented by the Governor-General of Canada), 10 Best Paper awards, the Engineering Excellence Medal from Professional Engineers Ontario, and an NSERC Discovery Accelerator Grant. His ground-breaking graph-theoretic methods have been commercialized by Maplesoft and licensed to thousands of users worldwide. Applications of his work range from stroke rehabilitation robots to sports engineering to autonomous vehicles.

Dr. McPhee is internationally recognized for his original contributions; he is the Vice-Chair and former Chair of the International Association for Multibody System Dynamics, a co-founder of 2 journals and 3 international technical committees, a frequent keynote speaker, and an Associate Editor for 6 leading journals in his field. He is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the Engineering Institute of Canada. Dr. McPhee has supervised 116 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, many of whom are academic leaders at other universities in Canada and abroad.

• Biomechatronics

• Multibody dynamic models and simulation

• Exoskeletons and rehabilitation robots

• Biomechanics

• Sports engineering

• Systems theory

• Model-based control

• Autonomous cars and vehicle dynamics

• Machine learning

• Computer vision

• Hybrid electric vehicles

• 1990, Doctorate Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario

• 1986, Master's Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario

• 1984, Bachelor's Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia

• 1982, Certificate of Applied Science Certificate of Applied Science, Acadia University, Nova Scotia

• Ranked in Top 2% of Scientists Worldwide by Stanford University, 2022

• Best Paper Award at ASME Design Engineering Technical Conference, 2021

• Best Paper Award at International Conference on Control, Dynamic Systems, and Robotics, 2020

• Engineering Medal for Engineering Excellence from Professional Engineers Ontario, 2019

• Award of Excellence in Graduate Supervision at the University of Waterloo, 2018

• Best Paper Award at the 4th Annual Conference on Vision and Intelligent Systems, 2018

• Teaching Excellence Award from Faculty of Engineering, University of Waterloo, 2018

• Best Paper Presentation Award at the Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress, 2018

• Best Paper Award at the 4th International Conference on Control, Dynamic Systems, and Robotics, 2017

• Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, 2016

• Canada Research Chair in System Dynamics, 2014

• Fellow of the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2014

• NSERC Synergy Award for Innovation, 2014

• Best Paper Award at the ASME International Conference on Advanced Vehicle Technologies, 2013

• Best Paper Presentation Award at International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems, 2012

• Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineers, 2011

• NSERC/Toyota/Maplesoft Industrial Research Chair in Mathematics-based Modelling and Design, 2009

• Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2005

• Best Paper Award from the Transactions of the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2003

• I.W. Smith Award from the Canadian Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2001

• Premier's Research Excellence Award, Province of Ontario, 2000

• Sandford Fleming Teaching Excellence Award, Faculty of Engineering, 1998

• NATO/NSERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 1992

• Governor-General's Gold Medal, Technical University of Nova Scotia, 1984

• Ralph Mounce Medal, Acadia University, 1982

• BME 182 - Physics 2: Dynamics
  • Taught in 2022, 2024
• BME 550 - Sports Engineering
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2023, 2025
• SYDE 652 - Dynamics of Multibody Systems
  • Taught in 2020, 2022, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• A. Nasr, S. Bell, and J. McPhee, Optimal Design of Active-Passive Shoulder Exoskeletons: A Computational Modeling of Human-Robot Interaction, Multibody Sys. Dyn., v.57, 73-106, 2023.

• A. Hashemi, G. Orzechowski, A. Mikkola, and J. McPhee, Multibody Dynamics and Control using Machine Learning, to appear in Multibody Sys. Dyn., 2023.

• J. Zhao, X. Li, C. Shum, and J. McPhee, Control-oriented Computational Fuel Cell Dynamics Modeling: Model Order Reduction versus Computational Speed, to appear in Energy, 2023.

• M. Febrer-Nafria, A. Nasr, M. Ezati, P. Brown, J. Font-Llagunes, and J. McPhee, Predictive Multibody Dynamic Simulation of Human Neuromusculoskeletal Systems: A Review, Multibody Sys.Dyn., https://doi.org/10.1007/s11044-022-09852-x, 2022.

• B. Laschowski, W. McNally, A. Wong, J. McPhee, Environment Classification for Robotic Leg Prostheses and Exoskeletons using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks, Frontiers Neurorobotics, v.15, 730965, 2022.

• Y. Lin, J. McPhee, and J. Azad, Co-Optimization of On-Ramp Merging and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Power Split Using Deep Reinforcement Learning, IEEE Trans. Vehicular Tech., v.71, 6958-6968, 2022.

• A. Nasr, S. Ferguson, and J. McPhee, Model-based Design and Optimization of Passive Shoulder Exoskeletons, ASME J. Comp. Nonlinear Dyn., v.17, 051004, 2022.

• A. Nasr, A. Hashemi, and J. McPhee, Model-Based Mid-Level Regulation for Assist-As-NeededHierarchical Control of Wearable Robots: A Computational Study of Human-Robot Adaptation, Robotics, v.11, no.20, 2022.

• D. Jennings, S. Reaves, J. Sklar, C. Brown, J. McPhee, S. Hazelwood, S. Klisch, Baseball Pitching Arm 3-D Inertial Parameter Calculations from Body Composition Imaging and a Novel Overweight Measure for Youth Pitching Arm Kinetics, ASME J. Biomech. Eng., v.144, 041007, 2021

• C. Jin, A. Maitland, and J. McPhee, Hierarchical Nonlinear Moving Horizon Estimation of Vehicle Lateral Speed and Road Friction Coefficient, ASME Letters Dyn. Sys. Control, v.1, 011005:1-5, 2021.

• K. Zhu, J. McPhee, and A. Wong, Automatic Chess Digitization from Video, United States Provisional Patent 63/434,020, 2022.

• B. Danaei, J. McPhee, J. Schipper, and A. Hladio, Apparatus and Methods for Determining an Optimized Implant Position Using a Kinematic and Inverse Dynamics Model and Applying Motion Capture Data, United States Provisional Patent 63/343,955, 2022.

• W. McNally, J. McPhee, and A. Wong, Automatic Dart Scoring Method using a Single Image, United States Provisional Patent 63/258,163, Canadian Provisional Patent CA 3155526, 2022.

• J. Azzolin and J. McPhee, Skate Blade System with Dynamic Movement, Canadian Patent 2,903,905, 2019.

• J. Azzolin and J. McPhee, Skate Blade System with Dynamic Movement, U.S.A. Patent 9,943,748, 2017.

• C-J. Kuo, A. Khajepour, and J. McPhee, Vehicle Dynamics Control using Pulsed Active Steering Strategy, U.S.A. Patent 8,762,004 B2, 2014.

• K. Jalali, J. McPhee, and S. Lambert, Genetic Fuzzy Active Steering Controller, U.S.A. Provisional Patent 61/282,829, 2010.

• Two profs elected to Canada's leading academic society
• Profs receive top Ontario engineering prizes
• Using AI to diagnose back pain
• Two professors named to Canada Research Chairs
• Research partnership gives Canada competitive edge in hybrid vehicle design
• Professor honoured with medal for engineering excellence