College of Engineering News Room
Dean Robert Bishop receives USF's top faculty honor
The recommending committee for the 2023 Distinguished University Professors (DUP) has chosen College of Engineering Dean and Department of Electrical Engineering Professor Robert Bishop to receive the top honor given to faculty at the University of South Florida.
Each year, the committee conducts intensive reviews of faculty to become part of the DUP community. Newly named provost Prasant Mohapatra announced this year's DUP honorees, saying Dr. Bishop's world-renowned work on state-of-the-art satellite control systems, leadership accomplishments and impact on student success made him a worthy candidate for the honor.
From the office of Prasant Mohapatra, University of South Florida Provost and Executive Vice President:
Dean Robert Bishop is a professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Dean of the College of Engineering. His work in state-of-the-art satellite control systems and electrical engineering is world-renowned. Numerous funding agencies have sponsored his projects, including NASA, Draper Labs, Air Force, US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and industrial technology leaders, including Oerlikon-Contraves, Boeing, NEC, Lockheed Martin, and National Instruments. As Founder and Chief Scientist of USF’s Institute for Applied Engineering, he works with others to facilitate engineering solutions to various economic and security challenges. His publications are highly influential, with over 6,200 citations, including over 1,550 citations in the last five years. He has received several prestigious awards, including NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems Innovation Award, the Dirk Brouwer Award of the American Astronautical Society, and, most recently, the 2023 AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), and the American Astronautical Society.
As Dean, some of his most noteworthy leadership accomplishments include being a key force in founding the first joint department between USF Health and the College of Engineering—the Department of Medical Engineering. Since its inception in December 2016, this department has grown to 13 full-time faculty and four full-time staff despite the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Part of this new department’s mission was to establish the fourth biomedical engineering (BME) major in Florida. With key guidance from Dean Bishop, rigorous accreditation from ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc) was obtained for this program on the first attempt.
Dr. Bishop’s impact on student success is embodied by his authorship of the definitive undergraduate textbook Modern Control Systems, now in its 14th edition. Additionally, he wrote Learning with Labview, a foundational textbook bridging the gap between theory and practice. Professor Bishop has mentored 20 PhD students and over 40 master’s students and is advising five students’ dissertations/theses at USF.