Mehta elevated to IEEE Fellow

MechSE Professor Prashant Mehta was one of five faculty members in The Grainger College of Engineering who was elevated to the 2024 class of IEEE Fellows. One of the most selective and prestigious honors in engineering, fellowship is reserved designation reserved for IEEE members who have “contributed significantly to the advancement of engineering, science, technology, and society-at-large.” No more than 0.1% of the IEEE voting membership may be elevated to the status of Fellow each year.

Associate Dean for Research Harley Johnson said, “We are proud to recognize our faculty members recently elevated to Fellow status in IEEE, a significant honor bestowed by one of the most important professional societies in engineering. IEEE has a broad footprint, like The Grainger College of Engineering, and we are especially pleased to note that our five new fellows represent five different academic departments in our college.”

Mehta was elevated “for contributions to nonlinear filtering.” Broadly speaking, nonlinear filtering is a mathematical subject concerned with extracting information from noisy data or information. Mehta’s research group invented the feedback particle filter, or FPF algorithm that can operate in the context of simulations when a mathematical model is not available. It has found applications in unmanned aerial vehicle tracking, satellite tracking and re-entry, speech enhancement and human neuron dynamics. His group continues to work on mathematical issues related to nonlinear filtering.

Mehta earned a doctorate in applied mathematics from Cornell University in 2004. Prior to joining the U. of I. in 2005, he worked at United Technologies Research Center where he co-invented the symmetry-breaking solution to suppress combustion instabilities. This solution is widely deployed in jet engines and afterburners sold by Pratt & Whitney. He currently serves as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control. He is also affiliated with the department of electrical & computer engineering and the Coordinated Science Laboratory.