Pramod Khargonekar

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Pramod Khargonekar was born in Indore, India. He is a well-known expert in control systems.

Khargonekar earned his bachelor's degree at the Indian Institutes of Technology, Bombay. In the late 1970s, he moved to Gainesville, Florida and studied under the guidance of Rudolf Kalman—a world authority in systems theory and a professor in the University of Florida Department of Electrical Engineering. In 1980, Khargonekar received a master's degree in mathematics and in 1981 a doctorate in electrical engineering. He soon joined the University of Florida faculty as an assistant professor of electrical engineering.[1]

In 1984, Khargonekar moved to the University of Minnesota. Five years later, he joined the University of Michigan faculty, where he eventually became the Claude E. Shannon Professor and Chairman of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department.

[edit] Accomplishments at UF

Khargonekar returned to his alma mater in 2001 to become dean of the College of Engineering. Under his leadership, the University of Florida's College of Engineering has grown tremendously. There were 181 Ph.D.s awarded last year — a 91 percent increase in just five years. The College’s annual research expenditures have never been higher. Growing 54 percent in the same time period, research spending in 2005-2006 was $107.8 million. Also since 2001, 23 faculty members have won NSF CAREER Awards, highly competitive grants given to the nation’s most promising young researchers. Forty faculty members have been named fellows of professional organizations. In November 2007, he announced his decision to step down from his position as dean of the College of Engineering at the University of Florida effective sometime summer or fall of 2008. A search committee for his successor was named in January 2008.

Among the most notable of Khargonekar’s accomplishments is the creation of and subsequent endowment for the College’s newest department, biomedical engineering. Establishing this department was one of Khargonekar’s first priorities upon becoming dean. In 2006, it was renamed the J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering in honor of a $10 million gift from the Pruitt family. With matching funds from the state of Florida, the gift became $20 million.

Khargonekar received the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship at the University of Michigan in recognition of his excellence in teaching. At the University of Florida, he developed and now teaches a course especially for freshmen.

Khargonekar’s research interests focus on control theory and its applications. He has received numerous honors and awards, including an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, the IEEE W.R.G. Baker Prize, the George Axelby Best Paper Award, the Hugo Schuck ACC Best Paper Award, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science Fellowship, and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

[edit] External links

• Pramod Khargonekar's website

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