Distributed systems and PDE models of physical phenomena (propagation of waves, network traffic, water distribution, fluid mechanics, electromagnetism, blood vessels, beams, road pavement, structures, etc.). Fundamental solution methods for PDEs: separation of variables, self-similar solutions, characteristics, numerical methods, spectral methods. Stability analysis. Adjoint-based optimization. Lyapunov stabilization. Differential flatness. Viability control. Hamilton-Jacobi-based control.