Mathematical Control Theory is a branch of Mathematics having as one of
its main aims the establishment of a sound mathematical foundation for
the c- trol techniques employed in several di?erent ?elds of
applications, including engineering, economy, biologyandsoforth.
Thesystemsarisingfromthese- plied Sciences are modeled using di?erent
types of mathematical formalism, primarily involving Ordinary
Di?erential Equations, or Partial Di?erential Equations or Functional
Di?erential Equations. These equations depend on oneormoreparameters
thatcanbevaried, andthusconstitute thecontrol - pect of the problem. The
parameters are to be chosen soas to obtain a desired behavior for the
system. From the many di?erent problems arising in Control Theory, the
C. I. M. E. school focused on some aspects of the control and op-
mization ofnonlinear, notnecessarilysmooth, dynamical systems. Two
points of view were presented: Geometric Control Theory and Nonlinear
Control Theory. The C. I. M. E. session was arranged in ?ve six-hours
courses delivered by Professors A. A. Agrachev (SISSA-ISAS, Trieste and
Steklov Mathematical Institute, Moscow), A. S. Morse (Yale University,
USA), E. D. Sontag (Rutgers University, NJ, USA), H. J. Sussmann
(Rutgers University, NJ, USA) and V. I. Utkin (Ohio State University
Columbus, OH, USA). We now brie?y describe the presentations. Agrachev's
contribution began with the investigation of second order - formation in
smooth optimal control problems as a means of explaining the variational
and dynamical nature of powerful concepts and results such as Jacobi
?elds, Morse's index formula, Levi-Civita connection, Riemannian c-
vature.