Faculty Directory

Calin Belta is the Brendan Iribe Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he is also affiliated with the Institute of Systems Research (ISR) and the Maryland Robotics Center (MRC). His research focuses on dynamics and control theory, with particular emphasis on cyber-physical systems, formal methods, and applications to robotics and systems biology. Notable awards include the 2008 AFOSR Young Investigator Award, the 2005 National Science Foundation CAREER Award, and the 2017 IEEE TCNS Outstanding Paper Award. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE CSS. 

 

In control theory, complicated dynamics such as systems of (nonlinear) differential equations are mostly controlled to achieve stability and to optimize a cost. In the area of formal methods in computer science, simple systems such as finite state transition graphs modeling computer programs and  digital circuits are verified and controlled from specifications such as safety, liveness, or richer requirements expressed as formulas of temporal logics.  Our group bridges the gaps among  control theory, formal methods, and machine learning to develop verification and control synthesis tools for  safety-critical cyber physical and  data-driven systems. We use our algorithms to solve challenging problems in robotics and biology.