USC Viterbi to Honor Applied Mathematician Irena Lasiecka With 2026 Balakrishnan Award

This year, USC Viterbi School of Engineering and USC Stevens School of Computing and AI's Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are honoring Irena Lasiecka, a leading researcher in applied mathematics and control theory, as the recipient of the 2026 A.V. "Bal" Balakrishnan Award recognizing her contributions to understanding and controlling complex dynamical systems.

The fifth annual Balakrishnan awards will be presented on October 15 at USC's Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center, and Lasiecka is invited to deliver a lecture titled "Control of Gas-Structure Interaction, Mathematical Theory and AI Perspective."

Lasiecka is a Distinguished University Professor and Faudree University Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Memphis and Commonwealth Professor of Mathematics Emerita at the University of Virginia. Her research focuses on applied mathematics and control theory for systems governed by partial differential equations.

In her lecture, Lasiecka will outline how gas flowing over deformable structures can trigger unstable oscillations known as flutter, potentially leading to structural damage or catastrophic failure. She will discuss how mathematical models can establish a foundation for AI-assisted control methods, including data-driven approaches to designing feedback systems and optimizing the placement of actuators. The work connects rigorous mathematical analysis with emerging artificial intelligence techniques for controlling complex physical systems.

Lasiecka has authored or co-authored more than 300 research papers and several monographs. She is a lifetime fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, the American Mathematical Society, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the International Federation for Information Processing. Her other honors include the 2019 Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award and the 2011 SIAM W.T. Reid Prize.

Established by USC Viterbi through a generous gift from Sophia Balakrishnan, the annual award honors the legacy of her late husband, A.V. "Bal" Balakrishnan, a pioneering researcher in the mathematics of systems. The award alternates between an Early Career Award in odd-numbered years and a Research Award in even-numbered years. Lasiecka will receive the 2026 Research Award and a $10,000 honorarium.

The award's namesake helped lay the groundwork for Lasiecka's research through his pioneering work in the continuum theory of aeroelasticity. The A.V. "Bal" Balakrishnan Chair is currently held by Petros A. Ioannou, University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with joint appointments in USC Viterbi's Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and the Department of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering.

Published on October 14th, 2026

Last updated on October 14th, 2026