2/13/2013 Kim Gudeman
Written by Kim Gudeman
Coordinated Science Laboratory researcher P. R. Kumar has received a Doctor Honoris Causa from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich). He was one of seven recipients of the award, which recognizes extraordinary scientific work or significant achievements in science, education, a field or in synthesis between research and practical work.
Kumar, who accepted the award at a Nov. 22 ceremony in Zurich, was selected for his “pioneering contributions in the fields of adaptive control, manufacturing systems and wireless networks.”
“Professor Kumar is world-renowned for his research on control theory, wireless networks, sensor networks and network embedded control systems,” said William H. Sanders, Acting Director of the Coordinated Science Laboratory. “We are so pleased that ETH Zurich has recognized his enormous contributions with this distinguished award.”
In his distinguished career, Kumar has studied stochastic control and randomized strategies in zero-sum dynamic stochastic games; adaptive control; dynamic systems in scheduling large manufacturing plants; simulated annealing method for global optimization; and wireless networking.
More recently, with his students, he has studied in-network computation in sensor networks, and the role of time in networks, in particular clock synchronization and quality of service. In addition, he and his students are working on developing software architecture for the third generation of control systems: networked embedded control systems. He is investigating hybrid systems with logical and differential dynamics, such as fully automated traffic systems.
Kumar is the Franklin W. Woeltge Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, a faculty researcher with the Information Trust Institute and an affiliate in the Computer Science department. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the India Institute of Technology in Madras (1973) and master’s and doctoral degrees in systems science and mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis (1975 and 1977). He joined the Illinois faculty in 1985.
In addition to the honorary doctorate, Kumar has received the Donald P. Eckman Award of the American Automatic Control Council (1985), the IEEE Field Award for Control Systems (2006), and the IEEE Communications Society Fred W. Ellersick Prize (2007). He is a Fellow of IEEE and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
About the Coordinated Science Laboratory
The Coordinated Science Laboratory, part of the University of Illinois’ distinguished College of Engineering, is one of the nation's premier multidisciplinary research laboratories, focusing on information technology at the crossroads of computing, control and communications. Created in 1951 to address urgent military needs associated with the Korean War, CSL continues to transform society by developing and deploying new technologies in areas such as defense, medicine, environmental sciences, robotics, life-enhancement for the disabled and aeronautics.