In a field undergoing tremendous advances with wide-ranging implications for us all, Andrjez W. Olbrot was a leading expert in a highly complex and theoretical niche of computer engineering called robust control systems.

Dr. Olbrot's work in automatic control systems helped advance the knowledge of controlling a system, for example, an automobile engine, more effectively with a computer program that accounts for time delays and uncertainties in the system's parameters.

Olbrot, Wayne State University professor of computer engineering, was killed December 10 by one of his students as he collected final exams in his graduate course at Old Main. He was 52.

Olbrot was the first computer researcher to give a complete testable characterization of the degeneration property of delay systems. That advance, while he was still a Ph.D. student at Warsaw Technical University, was the first of many breakthroughs Olbrot accomplished.

A native of Poland, Olbrot spoke and read at least four foreign languages. His ability to pour through the literature in the original language was a boon for his research. He is generally credited with originating a new direction in robust stability and control in 1982 by showing that interval uncertainty models can be treated with the help of the mathematical theorem of a then relatively unknown Russian mathematician named V. Kharitonov.

"He is very long recognized as a leader in the robust field and time delay systems," said a close colleague, Li Yi Wang, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering. "You can count only 100 people who understand the depths of this field beyond the textbook." Wang and Olbrot taught the same and related courses since Wang's faculty appointment in 1990.

Besides his research accomplishments, Olbrot was also a caring, dedicated and effective teacher, according to his students, colleagues, and friends. Olbrot taught primarily senior and graduate courses and served as advisor to numerous students who attained Ph.D's under his direction.

"If you had questions, he'd explain until you understood; he had a passion to teach," said a former undergraduate who graduated in 1990. "This (the subject) is very theoretical; it's not easy to understand."

"He was a very nice person; he didn't rush anything. Even the way he spoke. He thought over every word," said Asen Dontchev, a former classmate of Olbrot's at Warsaw Technical University where Olbrot received his Ph.D. in 1973.

"He was not demanding. He was always available to give valuable advice to his colleagues," added Wang.

Olbrot was born in Lisow, Poland on April 6, 1946 and attended King Leszcynski High School in Jaslo. He matriculated to Warsaw Technical University in 1964 where he earned all his degrees, including his postdoctoral. Olbrot was an exceptional student. "He was one of the most brilliant students," said Dontchev. While most students took three, four or more years to complete their doctoral thesis, Olbrot finished in two.

Olbrot remained at the Warsaw Technical University where he conducted research and taught on the faculty of its Institute of Automatic Control. He attained associate professor status there well before he left in 1987 at a time many of his colleagues left Poland to appointments abroad. "It was a difficult time to be in Poland," said Dontchev, who described the harsh political conditions under Communist rule in the aftermath of the Gdansk, Poland shipyard labor strikes.

When a position on the Wayne State faculty opened in 1987, Michael Polis, chair of Wayne State's electrical and computer engineering department from 1987 to 1993, recruited Olbrot to join the department. Polis had met Olbrot when Polis was a professor at Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and was familiar with his work. "We were looking for someone in the control area," said Polis. "He was somebody with a deep and broad grasp of things associated with control systems."

Olbrot joined the faculty as a visiting professor in February 1988. He was appointed full tenure in 1992.

Since coming to Wayne State, Olbrot's research funding came mainly from the National Science Foundation and the Ford Motor Co.

Olbrot was an avid reader and was knowledgeable on many different subjects outside his area of expertise. "He was interested in everything, including politics and culture," said Wang. "And he knew wines very well."

Several colleagues described his proficiency and passion for downhill skiing. He also played tennis.

Olbrot leaves two children, Pawel Olbrot and Wojciech, and former wife, Henryka Olbrot, of Farmington Hills; his second wife, Margaret Parker-Olbrot, of Farmington Hills; and brothers, Emil and Wladyslaw Olbrot, of Poland.