Azad M Madni

Northrop Grumman Foundation Fred O'Green Chair in Engineering, and University Professor of Astronautical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, Industrial and Systems Engineering, Ophthalmology, and Education

Education

Doctoral Degree, Engineering, University of California - Los Angeles
Master's Degree, Engineering, University of California - Los Angeles
Bachelor's Degree, Engineering, University of California - Los Angeles

Biography

Azad Madni is a University Professor of Astronautics, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering in the University of Southern California. He is the holder of the Northrop Grumman Fred O’Green Chair in Engineering, and the Executive Director of USC’s Systems Architecting and Engineering Program. He also holds a joint appointment in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and courtesy appointments in the Rossier School of Education and Keck School of Medicine. He is the Founding Director of the Distributed Autonomy and Intelligent Systems Laboratory and is a faculty affiliate of USC’s Ginsberg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics in the Keck School of Medicine. He is the founding director of the Ph.D. degree program in Systems Engineering in Astronautics Department. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute founded by Nobel Laureate, George Olah. He is a member of the London Digital Twin Research Centre. He is the founder and CEO of Intelligent Systems Technology, Inc., an award-winning hi-tech company specializing in model-based approaches for addressing scientific and societal problems of national and global significance. He is the Chief Systems Engineering Advisor to The Aerospace Corporation. He has served as Principal Investigator on 97 R&D projects totaling $100M+.

Research Summary

• Exploiting Synergy Between Humans and AI through Augmented Intelligence
•Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering and Engineering Education
• Leveraging Digital Twin Technology in Model Based Systems Engineering
• Model-Based Systems Engineering of Autonomous Systems and System-of-Systems
• Adaptive Cyber-Physical-Human Systems and Machine Learning
• Interactive Storytelling in Virtual Worlds

Awards

2026 American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME) through member society, the Society of Mining, Metallurgical, & Exploration (SME) The 2026 John Fritz Medal
2026 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2026 ASME Spirit of St. Louis Medal
2026 University of Southern California - USC Associates 2026 USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching
2026 Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE) 2026 International Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE)
2026 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IISE) 2026 IISE Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award
2025 Society of Women Engineers 2025 Society of Women Engineers Rodney D. Chipp Memorial Award
2025 University of Southern California 2025 USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and Scholarship
2025 Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) 2025 Fellow of Society of Manufacturing Engineers
2024 Association for Computing Machinery 2024 ACM Fellow
2024 USC Dornsife Department of Chemistry 18th Annual Carl M. Franklin Lecture in Science and Society
2024 Washington Academy of Sciences 2024 Washington Academy of Sciences Distinguished Career Award
2023 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) 2023 AIAA Honorary Fellow
2023 American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2023 ASME Honorary Member
2023 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2023 ASME CIE Lifetime Achievement Award
2023 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Phi Kappa Phi Lifetime Member
2023 Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award
2023 American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering 2023 AIMBE College of Fellows
2023 Intitute for Electrical and Electronics Engineering 2023 IEEE Simon Ramo Medal
2023 National Academy of Engineering 2023 Member of Albert Einstein Donor Society
2023 National Academy of Engineering 2023 Member of NAE Marie Curie Donor Society
2023 National Academy of Engineering 2023 National Academy of Engineering Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education
2023 American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2023 ASME Honorary Member
2023 American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2023 ASME CIE Lifetime Achievement Award
2022 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering 2022 IISE Fellow
2022 University of Southern California 2022 University Professor of Astronautics, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
2021 American Society for Engineering Education and International Council on Systems Engineering Joint ASEE SED/INCOSE Outstanding Systems Engineering Educator Award
2021 IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society's Judith A. Resnik Space Award
2021 University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Dean's Professor
2021 IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society 2021 IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Judith A. Resnik Space Award
2021 IEEE-USA 2021 IEEE-USA George F. McClure Citation of Honor
2021 University of Southern California 2021 Appointment to Northrop Grumman Foundation Fred O'Green Chair in Engineering
2021 International Council on Systems Engineering INCOSE Presidential Benefactor Award
2021 National Academy of Engineering Elected Member of the National Academy of Engineering
2021 University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Northrop Grumman Foundation Fred O'Green Chair in Engineering
2021 International Council on Systems Engineering and American Society of Engineering Education 2021 Joint INCOSE/ASEE Outstanding Systems Engineering Educator Award
2020 IEEE-USA IEEE-USA Entrepreneur Achievement Award
2020 IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics Society IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Norbert Wiener Outstanding Research Award
2020 National Defense Industrial Association NDIA Lt. GenThomas R. Ferguson Systems Engineering Excellence award
2019 International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) INCOSE Founders Award for increasing global awareness of INCOSE
2019 American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) ASME CIE Leadership Award
2019 San Fernando Valley Engineers' Council William B. Johnson International Inter-Professional Founders Award from Engineers Council
2019 Orange County Engineering Council Prestigious Pioneering Educator Award from Orange County Engineering Council
2019 University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering Dean Honoree for Amy King Dundon-Berchtold University Club Faculty Recognition
2019 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) 2019 AIAA/ASEE John Leland Atwood Award
2018 International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) 2018 INCOSE Outstanding Services Award
2017 Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) 2017 OCEC James E. Ballinger Engineer of the Year Award
2017 USC Viterbi School of Engineering 2017 USC Viterbi Dean's Award for Innovation in Teaching and Education
2017 IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics Society 2017 IEEE Most Active SMC Technical Committee Award
2017 San Fernando Valley Engineers' Council 2017 Engineers' Council John J. Guarrera Engineering Educator of the Year
2016 Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) 2016 Orange County Engineering Council Outstanding Engineering Educator Award
2016 San Fernando Valley Engineers' Council 2016 Engineers' Council Distinguished Engineering Educator Award
2016 INCOSE Regional Mini-Conference (RMC) 2016 INCOSE Regional Mini-Conference Special Award
2016 The Boeing Company 2016 Boeing Visionary Systems Engineering Leadership Award
2016 The Boeing Company 2016 Boeing Lifetime Accomplishments Award
2014 International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) 2014 INCOSE Lifetime Achievement Award from INCOSE for fundamental contributions to SE
2013 INCOSE-Los Angeles Chapter 2013 INCOSE-LA Susan C. Ruth Distinguished Service Award
2013 Institute for Industrial and Systems Engineering IISE Prize for Innovation in Curriculum Development
2012 American Institute for Aerospace and Aeronautics (AIAA) 2012 AIAA Fellow
2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2012 AAAS Fellow
2012 Internation Concil on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)-Los Angeles Chapter 2012 INCOSE Exceptional Achievement Award for Advancing Multi-disciplinary Approaches to Systems Engineering
2011 International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) 2011 INCOSE Pioneer Award
2011 International Council on Systems Engineering-Los Angeles (INCOSE-LA) 2011 INCOSE-LA Award for Seminal Contributions to Systems Engineering Research and Education
2008 Dean of Viterbi School of Engineering 2008 USC Viterbi Special Commendation for Performance as Technical Chair of 2008 CSER
2008 Society of Design and Process Science (SDPS) at Eleventh World Conference on Integrated Systems, Design, and Process Science 2008 SDPS President's Award
2007 Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) 2007 IETE Life Fellow
2006 Society of Design and Process Science (SDPS) at the Ninth World Conference on Integrated Design and Process Technology 2006 SDPS C.V. Ramamoorthy Distinguished Scholar Award
2005 International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) 2005 INCOSE Fellow
2004 DARPA Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) 2004 Sustained Excellence by a Performer at 2004 DARPATech
2004 DARPA Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) 2004 DARPA Significant Technical Achievement at 2004 DARPATech
2004 Software Council of Southern California (SCSC), now Technology Council of Southern California 2004 SCSC Developer of the Year Award
2003 Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS) 2003 SDPS Fellow
2002 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 2002 IEEE Fellow
2000 Mass Mutual and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 2000 Blue Chip Enterprise Award
2000 Software Council of Southern California (SCSC) 2000 SCSC Developer of the Year Award
2000 ComputerWorld Magazine 2000 Top 100 Emerging Companies to Watch
1999 The U.S. Small Business Administration 1999 SBA's Tibbetts Award
- Marquis Who's Who Listed in multiple Marquis Who's Who

Appointments

Dir-Acad Prog, Systems Architecting and Engineering
Astronautical Engineering
Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Ophthalmology

Office

OHE 500T
Olin Hall of Engineering
3650 McClintock Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90089
USC Mail Code: 1192

Contact Information

(213) 821-1001
azad.madni@usc.edu

Links

CV Link

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