S. Shankar Sastry

S. Shankar Sastry is a distinguished academic and researcher holding the title of Professor in the Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Bioengineering, and Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as Dean of the College of Engineering from 2007 to 2018 and previously directed CITRIS (Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society), the EECS Department, and the DARPA Information Technology Office. His academic journey includes a B.Tech. from IIT Bombay (1977) and advanced degrees from UC Berkeley (M.S. EECS 1979, M.A. Mathematics 1980, Ph.D. EECS 1981).

Research interests span artificial intelligence, control systems, robotics, cyber-physical systems, and security. He leads initiatives at the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab (BAIR), Berkeley Center for New Media, and the Blum Center for Developing Economies. Notable contributions include work on sparse representation for face recognition, hybrid system analysis, and biomimetic robotics.

His publications (15+ highlighted here) showcase expertise in dynamic games, networked control, and quantum computing. Awards include the Rufus Oldenburger Medal (2021), Berkeley Citation (2018), and multiple fellowships. Sastry has advised numerous students and oversees labs focusing on autonomous systems and human-robot interaction. Teaching includes courses on feedback control and linear system theory.