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Look Who's Coming!

Centennial Committee
Jehoshua Bruck
Michelle Effros
Ali Hajimiri
Babak Hassibi
Robert McEliece
P.P. Vaidyanathan

David Luenberger
Professor of Management Science & Engineering, Stanford University

David G. Luenberger received a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Caltech in 1959 and the MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University in 1961 and 1963, respectively. He joined the Stanford faculty in 1963 and soon helped found the Department of Engineering-Economic Systems. He served as chairman of the Department from 1980 to 1991.

Professor Luenberger's research has been in the areas of systems theory, optimization and decisions, economics, and most recently in finance and investment as applied to industry. His PhD work in control theory, led to the "Luenberger Observer" which continues to be an important concept in modern control system design. He is the author of six textbooks.

Much of his career has been devoted to helping develop a fundamental approach to graduate education in his discipline, inspired by the education that characterizes the Caltech Electrical Engineering undergraduate curriculum.

During 1970-71 Professor Luenberger was Technical Assistant to the Director, U.S. Office of Science and Technology, Executive Office of the President, Washington DC (Technical staff to the President's Science Advisor). In that capacity he helped formulate science policy in civilian areas and promoted the application of system methods in several government agencies. He worked especially with the Department of Housing and Urban Development to apply scientific methods to social experiments.

In 1975 Professor Luenberger was a Visiting Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Laboratory of Information and Decision Systems within the Department of Electrical Engineering.

In 1986 he was Guest Professor at the Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark.

Professor Luenberger has been active in several professional societies. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and served as President of the Society of Economic Dynamics and Control in 1987-88. He has received several awards, including the Bode Prize of the IEEE, the Oldenburger Medal of the ASME, and the Expository Writing Award of the Institute of Operations Research and Management Science. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.

In addition to his six textbooks, he has published over 80 research papers in technical journals and has been an active consultant to industry. He has also served as the principal dissertation advisor for over forty PhD students.