Samueli School Distinguished Lecture: Pramod Khargonekar on Opportunities and Challenges in Engineering Research and Education – A Perspective from NSF

ABSTRACT: The National Science Foundation Engineering Directorate seeks to support frontier research, education and innovation. In this talk, I will highlight key trends and recent initiatives at NSF and the Engineering Directorate. I will highlight major opportunities for the engineering community to push the frontiers of knowledge and address national and societal needs. I will discuss issues in engineering education and workforce and programs to address these areas. I will highlight initiatives that aim to foster connection of research to innovations. Finally, I will present some overarching issues on these topics.

BIO: Pramod P. Khargonekar was appointed by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to serve as Assistant Director for the Directorate of Engineering (ENG) in March 2013. In this position, Khargonekar leads the ENG Directorate with an annual budget of more than $890 million. The ENG Directorate invests in frontier engineering research and education, cultivates an innovation ecosystem, and develops the next-generation of engineers. He is a member of the senior leadership team at NSF and thereby involved in setting priorities and policies at NSF. Khargonekar received B. Tech. Degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, in 1977, and M.S. degree in mathematics and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Florida in 1980 and 1981, respectively.

Khargonekar's research and teaching interests are centered on theory and applications of systems and control. His early work was on mathematical control theory, specifically focusing on robust control analysis and design.