Liberzon: Richard T. Cheng Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professorship: Richard T.  Cheng Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Dr. Richard T. Cheng (MS ECE '69, PhD CS '71) established this professorship to help Illinois ECE retain and attract talented faculty. An influential educator, who founded the computer science departments at the Rochester Institute of Technology and Old Dominion University, Dr. Cheng's philanthropy at Illinois began more than 15 years ago when he established the Richard T. Cheng Endowed Fellowship in Computer Science. Dr. Cheng's influence also reached beyond the United States. He helped establish the College of Computer Science and Engineering at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, where he also advised the government about the nation's computer network.

An entrepreneur, he founded ECI Systems & Engineering in 1980. At its peak, the Virginia-based company was a leading integrated systems provider for the U.S. military and government, with annual sales of $50 million, more than 500 employees, and 32 offices around the world. In 2011, Cheng was recognized by the College of Engineering at Illinois with the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service for his outstanding leadership in education and in business.

Faculty: Daniel M. Liberzon

Professor Liberzon’s research interests include nonlinear control theory, switched and hybrid dynamical systems, control with limited information, and uncertain and stochastic systems.   He is the author of the books "Switching in Systems and Control" (Birkhauser, 2003) and "Calculus of Variations and Optimal Control Theory: A Concise Introduction" (Princeton Univ. Press, 2012).    His work has received several recognitions, including the 2002 IFAC Young Author Prize and the 2007 Donald P. Eckman Award. He delivered a plenary lecture at the 2008 American Control Conference. He is a fellow of IEEE and IFAC, and an Editor for Automatica (Nonlinear Systems and Control area).