Pramod P. Khargonekar: Difference between revisions

| alma_mater = [[University of Florida]]

[[Indian Institute of Technology Bombay]]

In 2001 he returned to his alma mater to become Dean of the College of Engineering and Eckis Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://vivo.ufl.edu/display/n345687|title=2001-present Eckis Professor of Electrical and COmputer Engineering|website=vivo.ufl.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref> During his tenure as Dean (2001-2009), the number of Ph.D.s awarded (189 during his final year) enjoyed a nearly 100 percent increase. As Dean, he also developed an ambitious strategic plan to elevate the ranking of the College of Engineering, and succeeded in moving it up to 25 (15 among public universities) from 35 (20 among public universities). In collaboration with the College’s faculty, in 2002 he also created a Biomedical Engineering Department,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bme.ufl.edu/about|title=About Biomedical Engineering {{!}} www.bme.ufl.edu|website=www.bme.ufl.edu|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.gainesville.com/news/20060118/uf-donors-10m-to-go-long-way|title=UF donor's $10M to go long way|last=Stripling|first=Jack|date=2006-01-18|work=Gainesville Sun|access-date=2017-04-14|language=en}}</ref> which in 2009 moved into the new interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences Building, which he collaborated with the UF College of Medicine to create. Among his other accomplishments during his tenure as Dean, total research expenditures at the College of Engineering grew from about $65 million to more than $109 million.

Dr. Khargonekar’s research interests focus on systems and [[control theory]] and its applications.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=DB9IjY0AAAAJ&hl=en|title=Pramod Khargonekar - Google Scholar Citations|website=scholar.google.com|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref> Control systems are ubiquitous in modern technological society. Airplanes, automobiles, manufacturing tools and plants, chemical process plants, electric power grid, robots, biomedical devices, and heating and ventilation systems, among others, all contain control systems that ensure their suitable and desired operation. For example, flight control systems ensure airplane behavior during takeoff, cruise, and landing operations.

Much of Dr. Khargonekar’s early work was on new methods drawn from advanced algebra for analysis of system mathematical models. Later, he focused on the field of robust control, where he contributed to the development of state space [[H-infinity methods in control theory|H-infinity control theory]], a major achievement in the field of control. He has also contributed to [[digital control]], system identification, and [[digital signal processing]]. He has made pioneering contributions to the application of modern control methods to semiconductor chip manufacturing processes, particularly to [[Plasma etching|plasma processes for etching]] silicon and other materials. Other applications include color xerography and control of [[Reconfigurable Manufacturing System|reconfigurable manufacturing systems]]. In recent years, he has focused on the problem of integrating wind and solar electricity into the power grid.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2015/nsf15082/nsf15082.jsp|title=US NSF - Dear Colleague Letter: Research on Theory and Analytical Tools for Power Networks with High Levels of Renewable Generation (nsf15082)|last=Khargonekar|first=Pramod|date=2015-05-19|website=www.nsf.gov|language=en|access-date=2017-04-14}}</ref> The challenge here is to deal with the inherent variability, unpredictability and uncontrollability of these electric energy sources. He is a contributor to three patents,<ref>{{cite patent|title=Method and system for creating a control-flow structure which represents control logic, reconfigurable logic controller having the control logic, method for designing the controller and method for changing its control logic|date=Jul 3, 2001|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US6256598|inventor-last=Park|inventor2-last=Tilbury|inventor3-last=Khargonekar|inventor-first=Euisu|inventor2-first=Dawn M.|inventor2-link= Dawn Tilbury |inventor3-first=Pramod P.|issue=US6256598 B1|accessdate=2017-04-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent|title=Coordinitization of tone reproduction curve in terms of basis functions|date=May 5, 1998|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US5749020|inventor-last=Mestha|inventor2-last=Wang|inventor3-last=Dianat|inventor-first=Lingappa K.|inventor2-first=Yao Rong|inventor3-first=Sohail A.|issue=US5749020 A|accessdate=2017-04-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite patent|title=Optimal reconstruction of tone reproduction curve|date=Oct 5, 1999|url=http://www.google.com/patents/US5963244|inventor-last=Mestha|inventor2-last=Wang|inventor3-last=Dianat|inventor-first=Lingappa K.|inventor2-first=Yao Rong|inventor3-first=Sohail A.|issue=US5963244 A|accessdate=2017-04-14}}</ref> two of which create methods of optimizing [[Tone reproduction|tone reproduction curves]], an image rendering technique which has relevance to printing technologies. Colleagues at Xerox indicate that these patents are being used in current Xerox Corp. products.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ieeecss.org/general/IoCT2-report|title=The Impact of Control Technology—2nd Ed. {{!}} IEEE Control Systems Society|website=ieeecss.org|language=en|access-date=2017-04-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ieeecss.org/sites/ieeecss.org/files/CSSIoCT2Update/IoCT2-SS-Mestha-1.pdf|title=Digital Printing Control: Print Shop in a Box|last=Mestha|first=Lalit|last2=Gil|first2=Alvaro|date=2010|website=ieeecs.org|access-date=2017-04-19}}</ref>

In 2018 he was given the IEEE Control Systems Award <ref>[https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/about/awards/recipients/control_sys_rl.pdf]</ref> and in 2018 he was elected as [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] fellow.