Hamsa Balakrishnan

Hamsa Balakrishnan is a prominent academic and researcher currently serving as the Associate Dean of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She holds the William E. Leonhard (1940) Professorship in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT.134

Education and Career

• Education: Balakrishnan received her bachelor's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and her master's and doctoral degrees from Stanford University.145
• Previous Roles: Before joining MIT, she worked as a Principal Development Engineer at NASA Ames Research Center's Terminal Air Traffic Management Concepts Branch and at the University Affiliated Research Center at UC Santa Cruz.14
• MIT Roles: She has served in various capacities at MIT, including Associate Department Head in Aeronautics and Astronautics from 2018 to 2021 and Director of Transportation@MIT in 2018-2019.14

Research and Contributions

Balakrishnan's research focuses on the design, analysis, and implementation of control and optimization algorithms for large-scale cyber-physical infrastructures, particularly in air transportation systems. Her work includes developing algorithms for airport congestion control, air traffic routing, airspace resource allocation, and using machine learning for weather forecasts and flight delay prediction.23 She is also involved with the Dynamics, Infrastructure Networks, and Mobility (DINaMo) group at MIT.14

Awards and Honors

Throughout her career, Balakrishnan has received numerous accolades for her research and teaching. These include:

• NSF CAREER Award
• CNA Award for Operational Analysis
• AIAA Lawrence Sperry Award
• American Automatic Control Council’s Donald P. Eckman Award
• MIT AIAA Undergraduate Teaching Award
• MIT Office of Graduate Education Committed to Caring Honor.124

Additional Contributions

In addition to her academic roles, Balakrishnan co-founded Lumo, a company focused on predicting flight delays using data analytics, where she serves as chief scientist.14 She will be honored with the "Academia and Innovation Award" at the New England Choice Awards Gala in November 2024.2