Dr. Afef Fekih receives 2022 Distinguished Professor Award

It is with great pride that we announce, Dr. Afef Fekih as the University's 2022 Distinguished Professor Award honoree.  Dr. Afef Fekih holds the Harold Callais/BORSF Endowed Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering and the O’Krepki/BORSF Professorship in Telecommunications. She is director of the University’s Advanced Control Systems Laboratory.

Each year the UL Lafayette Foundation's Eminent Faculty Awards honors faculty members for their outstanding efforts in research, scholarship, or creative works, and who demonstrate a commitment to and effectiveness in teaching and who make significant contributions to campus life and the community.

“Dr. Fekih has been instrumental in developing programs in control engineering, she has contributed mightily to the growth of the Electrical Engineering department and has served the University admirably, said Dr. Burke Huner, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Engineering. “This is an honor well-earned and well-deserved,” continued Huner,

Dr. Fekih’s excellence in research is reflected by the quality and impact of her work. Her research interests include control theory and applications, nonlinear and robust control, fault-tolerant control and dynamic system modeling. Among the applications to which the developed control algorithms and fault tolerant control technologies were implemented are aircraft systems, autonomous vehicles, unmanned aerial vehicles, wind turbines, photovoltaic systems and distributed energy systems in microgrids. Research into fault tolerant control is impactful, especially is safety critical systems such as aircraft, wind turbines, microgrids.

Her research was featured by the Thomson Reuters Science Watch Essential Science Indicators. An inspiration to many with whom she works, Fekih’s highly acclaimed research work continues to attract undergraduate and graduate students to electrical and computer engineering.

Dr. Fekih is dedicated to her students and integrates her research findings into her course offerings, giving her students access to the technology with real world applications. This enables her students to better understand the control design and implement it to a real-world application.

She has made remarkable contributions to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the IEEE Control Systems Society through research, professional services, and community services.

Congratulations Dr. Fekih!

For more on Dr. Fekih’s career and service, go here→