Four Institute of Technology faculty named McKnight Professors

Aerospace engineering professor Gary Balas, mathematics professor Bernardo Cockburn, mechanical engineering professor Uwe Kortshagen, and computer science and engineering professor Nikos Papanikolopoulos are recipients of the 2007 Distinguished McKnight University Professorship, which recognizes and rewards outstanding mid-career faculty.

Recipients of the University-wide honor are chosen on the merit of their scholarly achievement and potential for greater attainment, the quality of their teaching and advising, and their contributions to the wider community. Four of the six individuals chosen to receive the University-wide award this year are Institute of Technology faculty.

Gary Balas (aerospace engineering and mechanics) is a world leader in advancing control theory from theoretical development to actual aerospace applications. His contributions are interdisciplinary and span the fields of aerospace, civil, electrical and mechanical engineering, computer science, and applied mathematics. He led the development of the first widely available collection of computational tools for robust control; this software is now the gold standard for both industry and academia. Balas has written more than 150 peer-reviewed research publications and is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Control Systems Technology Award, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Dynamic Systems and Control Outstanding Young Investigator Award. He is an IEEE Fellow and an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Associate Fellow. As an assistant professor, Balas held a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship.

Bernardo Cockburn (mathematics) is a world leader in the area of algorithms for computer simulation of physical phenomena. He is known for his pioneering work on the development of highly accurate, flexible and robust numerical methods for a wide range of problems of practical interest such as weather forecasting, compressible fluid flow, semiconductor device simulation, electromagnetism, heat transfer and deformation of elastic bodies. His numerical methods are ideal to use with adaptive strategies and can produce simulations of a quality impossible to reach with other methods. His current research focuses on rendering these methods more accurate and efficient. Cockburn has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, five monographs, and edited one book.

Uwe Kortshagen (mechanical engineering) is internationally known for his research on partly ionized gases, also known as plasmas. His research has impacted various areas of plasma science and engineering. His theoretical and experimental studies of plasmas at low pressures have led to a better fundamental understanding of their properties, and to the development of more accurate models for such plasmas used in microelectronics manufacturing. His more recent work on the plasma synthesis of nanoparticles—small crystals containing only a few hundreds of atoms—aims at developing new improved materials for energy-efficient light sources and for highly efficient low-cost solar cells. The plasma technologies developed by Kortshagen’s group are now being commercialized for the manufacture of solar cells based on silicon nanoparticle inks. Kortshagen and his students have received numerous intra- and extramural honors, and his work has been published in more than 75 articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Nikos Papanikolopoulos (computer science and engineering) is a leading figure in robotics and automation with groundbreaking contributions in distributed robotics, computer vision algorithms, and transportation systems. Adopting pioneering interdisciplinary efforts that bridge computer vision with control theory, he has coined terms such as “controlled active vision” that define new research frontiers. His widely cited “Scout” robot, featured on the cover of the National Science Foundation’s robotics report, is one of robotics’ most innovative concepts/prototypes. Transportation safety has also been greatly impacted by his work on vision-based monitoring of traffic and humans. Advocating robotics-based education/outreach, he was also program chair of the most prestigious robotics conference in 2006. He was recently named an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellow. As an assistant professor, Papanikolopoulos received a McKnight Land-Grant Professorship and a National Science Foundation Career Award.