Behçet Açıkmeşe
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Chancellor’s Professor
Behçet Açıkmeşe is a Chancellor’s Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of California, Berkeley.
Behçet Açıkmeşe received his Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Purdue University. He was a senior technologist at JPL and a lecturer at Caltech. At JPL, he developed control algorithms for planetary landing, spacecraft formation flying, and asteroid and comet sample return missions. He developed the “flyaway” control algorithms in Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, and the reaction control system algorithms for NASA SMAP mission. Dr. Acikmese invented a novel planetary landing guidance algorithm (G-FOLD) that was flight tested by JPL, which is a first demonstration of a real-time optimization algorithm for autonomous rocket guidance and control.
He is a recipient of NSF CAREER Award, IEEE Technical Excellence in Aerospace Controls Award, multiple Best Paper Awards from IEEE CSM, Scitech, Asian Journal of Control, and numerous NASA Achievement awards for his contributions to NASA missions and new technology development.
He is a Fellow of AIAA and IEEE.
Research Description
Behcet Açıkmeşe’s research interests include convexification methods for optimization problems, nonlinear and robust control, optimization-based real-time trajectory planning and control, game theory, coordination and control of large-scale multi-agent systems, and convex optimization. Applications span autonomous dynamical systems and aerospace guidance, navigation, and control, including planetary landing, reusable rockets, distributed spacecraft systems, and autonomous aircraft.