Krishnaprasad Gives Inaugural Cymer Distinguished Lecture

Prof. P.S. Krishnaprasad

On May 30, Professor P.S. Krishnaprasad (ECE/ISR) gave the inaugural Cymer Distinguished Lecture at the new Cymer Center for Control Systems and Dynamics, University of California San Diego. Krishnaprasad was invited to give the lecture by Cymer Center Director Miroslav Krstic. Before moving to UCSD, Krstic was a professor in the University of Maryland's Mechanical Engineering Department and an affiliated faculty member of the Institute for Systems Research (ISR). Krstic now holds the Harold Sorenson Chair Professorship in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at UCSD.

Krishnaprasad's lecture, "Pursuit and Cohesion: From Biology to Autonomous Vehicles," discussed the geometric patterns in certain pursuit and prey capture phenomena in nature. He also suggested sensorimotor feedback laws that explain the patterns. He then focused on the echolocating bat's prey capture strategy and compared it with alternatives using a game theoretic setting.

Krishnaprasad notes that one highpoint of his visit was meeting alumni Dr. Reza Shahidi and Dr. Ramin Rezaiifar at his lecture. They are senior technical staff at Qualcomm Inc., working in the area of wireless communication technology. Shahidi wrote his Ph.D. thesis under the supervision of Professor Mark Shayman, and Rezaiifar wrote his Ph.D. thesis under the supervision of Professor Armand Makowski. Krishnaprasad was a co-advisor on their M.S. theses in Control (respectively with Professor Shayman, and the late Professor Dayawansa).

Published June 23, 2008