Ufuk Topcu

Ufuk Topcu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a core faculty member at the Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences. Ufuk obtained his Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 2008. Prior to joining The University of Texas at Austin, he was with the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. He was a postdoctoral scholar at California Institute of Technology until 2012. Ufuk’s research focuses on the theoretical and algorithmic aspects of design and verification of autonomous systems, typically in the intersection of formal methods, reinforcement learning and control theory. He takes a relatively broad view on autonomy and tend to tackle abstract problems motivated by challenges cutting across multiple applications of autonomy. His research contributions have been recognized by the NSF CAREER Award, the Air Force Young Investigator Award, the IEEE CSS Antonio Ruberti Young Researcher Prize, and Oden Institute Distinguished Researcher Award.