Ashok Agrawala

Ashok Agrawala is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Maryland, with joint affiliations in the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS) and the Department of Electrical Engineering. He directs the Maryland Information and Network Dynamics (MIND) Lab, a leading research group focused on real-time systems, network performance, and wireless localization technologies.

Education:

• B.E. and M.E. in Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
• M.A. and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, Harvard University

His research interests span computer systems, distributed algorithms, real-time operating systems, network performance modeling, traffic shaping, and indoor localization. He is renowned for pioneering the Ricart-Agrawala distributed mutual exclusion algorithm, developing the Maruti real-time operating system, and creating the Horus and Locus indoor positioning systems. His work has led to significant advances in temporal guarantees, jitter-free data delivery, and calibration-free localization.

His recent publications show sustained innovation in wireless localization, context-aware computing, breath analytics, and energy-efficient IoT systems, reflecting an evolving research trajectory toward smart health and urban computing. He has authored over 200 papers and seven books, with consistent publication activity into 2024.

Scientific Recognition:

• Fellow, IEEE
• Member, ACM
• Member, AAAS
• Member, Sigma Xi

Agrawala has advised over thirty Ph.D. students, many of whom now lead research in academia and industry. His research has been funded by DARPA, NSF, and AFOSR, with corporate partnerships from IBM, Novell, and AT&T. He previously worked at Honeywell Information Systems, where he designed an Optical Character Reader. He has also served as a consultant to the UNDP and the Government of India, and as a technical expert in legal cases.

He leads the MIND Lab, which focuses on mobile computing, wireless networks, and context-aware systems, continuing to innovate in real-time and networked systems.