Vijay Kumar

Vijay Kumar is the Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, where he holds appointments in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Computer and Information Science, and Electrical and Systems Engineering. After earning his B.Tech from IIT Kanpur and PhD from The Ohio State University in 1987, he has built an extraordinary career spanning over three decades at Penn. His groundbreaking research focuses on autonomous ground and aerial robots, bio-inspired algorithms for collective behaviors, and robot swarms. As founder of Exyn Technologies and advisor to Treeswift, he has successfully bridged academic research with commercial applications. His distinguished honors include fellowship in ASME and IEEE, membership in the National Academy of Engineering, American Philosophical Society, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and National Academy of Inventors. He previously served as assistant director of robotics and cyber physical systems at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. His numerous awards include the IEEE Robotics and Automation Pioneer Award, ASME Mechanisms and Robotics Award, and Engelberger Robotics Award. Under his leadership as Dean since 2015, Penn Engineering has seen remarkable growth in cross-disciplinary programs, faculty hiring, and innovative initiatives including the Penn Center for Health, Devices, and Technology