Carolyn L Beck

Carolyn L Beck is a Professor in the Department of Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds affiliations with multiple departments, including Electrical and Computer Engineering (since 2014) and Mechanical Science and Engineering (since 1999). Beck is also a Research Professor at the Coordinated Science Laboratory (since 2019) and has served as Associate Head for Undergraduate Programs since 2020.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from California Institute of Technology
• M.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University
• B.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering with a Physics minor from California State Polytechnic University

Research Interests focus on control and optimization, epidemic processes over networks, network inference, and dynamic network data clustering. Her work spans mathematical systems theory to real-world applications in bioengineering and smart grid optimization.

Article Trends show a progression from system identification and network inference to complex epidemic modeling over time-varying networks and grid optimization. Recent works emphasize finite-sample analysis, distributed subgradient methods, and multi-layer contagion dynamics, reflecting her expertise in control theory and network science.

Scientific Awards:

• IEEE Fellow (2023)
• Arthur Davis Faculty Scholar Award (2016)
• ONR Young Investigator Award (2001-2004)
• NSF CAREER Award (1998-2003)
• ORAU Junior Faculty Award (1997)
• Alcoa Foundation Award (1997)

Advising and Grants include mentoring former PhD students like Puneet Sharma (AIMBE Fellow) and Philip Pare' (Purdue ECE). Her research has been funded by the NSF, ONR, and IEEE, with a $500,000 grant for wind turbine efficiency.

Labs and Teams: Beck is affiliated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams in bioengineering, network control, and grid optimization. She also contributes to IEEE as a Guest Editor and Associate Editor.