July 26, 2024 Edwin S. Wilsey Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Chair, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Naomi Leonard, is the 2024 recipient of the Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award from the American Automatic Control Council. Leonard received the award for fundamental contributions to geometric control theory, networked multiagent systems and for bridging control theory with ecological systems, neuroscience, and the arts.The Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award is given for distinguished career contributions to the theory or application of automatic control. It is the highest recognition of professional achievement for US control systems engineers and scientists.The award was first given in 1979 to Henrik W. Bode (of Bode plot fame). Other previous recipients include Richard Bellman (of the Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation), Charles Draper (of Draper Labs), and Rudolf Kalman (of the Kalman filter).
