Efstathios Bakolas

Efstathios Bakolas serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin, holding the Eli H. and Ramona Thornton Centennial Fellowship in Engineering. He joined the department as an Assistant Professor in fall 2012 and leads research in control theory and autonomous systems.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2011
• M.S. in Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2007
• Diploma in Mechanical Engineering (highest honors), National Technical University of Athens, Greece, 2004

Research Interests: Dr. Bakolas specializes in optimal control theory, stochastic control, and differential games with applications to motion planning for autonomous vehicles and robotic systems. His work extends to multi-agent network control, computational geometry, and nonlinear control systems. Current projects focus on multi-agent decision-making (task allocation and coverage control), learning-based control of uncertain aerospace systems, and reduced-order fluid system modeling.

Awards:

• Elected Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), 2024
• Elevated to Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 2022

Advising and Grants: Dr. Bakolas mentors graduate students through his research group, supported by the Thornton Centennial Fellowship and departmental resources. His work addresses critical challenges in aerospace autonomy though specific grant details are not disclosed in source materials.

Labs and Teams: He directs a specialized research team within the department's Controls, Autonomy and Robotics initiative, developing algorithms for multi-agent coordination and fluid dynamics control with interdisciplinary applications.