PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Antonio Ortega

Antonio Ortega is a signal-processing researcher whose work connects graph signal processing with machine learning. He earned a telecommunications engineering degree in Madrid in 1989, completed an electrical-engineering PhD at Columbia in 1994, and joined USC's faculty. At USC, he received an NSF CAREER award, led the Signal and Image Processing Institute, coauthored work on graph-based semi-supervised learning, and wrote Introduction to Graph Signal Processing in 2022. As of October 2026, he is USC's Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs and Dean's Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Born
1965
Works
739
Citations
20,716
h-index
58
Badges

Years link to their sources. Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1989–1994

    Degrees in Madrid and New York

    He earns a Telecommunications Engineering degree at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 1989 and a PhD in electrical engineering at Columbia University in 1994.

  2. 1994

    Joining USC Electrical Engineering

    In 1994, he joins USC's Electrical Engineering department as an assistant professor.

  3. 1995

    An NSF CAREER Award

    In 1995, he receives the NSF Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award.

  4. 2004–2007

    SIPI director and associate chair

    At USC, he directs the Signal and Image Processing Institute from 2004 to 2006 and serves as associate chair of Electrical Engineering-Systems from 2004 to 2007.

  5. 2013

    Signal processing on graphs

    In 2013, he coauthors a survey on signal processing on graphs that develops methods to process data on networks and other irregular domains.

  6. 2014

    Active learning on graph data

    In 2014, he coauthors a framework for active semi-supervised learning on graphs that selects informative nodes for labels and predicts unknown labels.

  7. 2022

    Graph signal processing book

    In 2022, he publishes Introduction to Graph Signal Processing.

  8. As of October 2026

    Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs

    As of October 2026, he is Vice Dean for Faculty Affairs at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering and a Dean's Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Career

  1. Since 1994University of Southern CaliforniaAssistant Professor, Director
  2. 2016–2019Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
  3. 2006–2009Saban Research Institute
  4. 2002–2003Columbia University

Education

  1. 1994Columbia UniversityPhD
  2. 1989Technical University of MadridTelecommunications Engineering degree

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Southern California. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, recent citations, dual appointments and job moves across 2,420 university researchers and 308 frontier-lab researchers.
  2. Universities had a net outflow of 2,068 moves in AI careersIncludes University of Southern California. Our estimates of career flows and median h-index across universities and companies in AI, including the role of joint appointments and earlier academic jobs.
  3. People shaping AI work at a median of 3 organizations over a career: 3 for university starters and institute and lab starters, versus 2 for company startersIncludes University of Southern California. Across 6,853 people shaping AI with a dated work role, we estimate a median of 3 parent organizations over a career (mean 3.6), comparing role groups, starting sectors and starting decades from the 1950s to 2020–2026.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Southern California. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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  1. USC - Viterbi School of Engineering - Viterbi Faculty Directory viterbi.usc.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Antonio Ortega, Dept. of EE-Systems, USC sipi.usc.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Signal Processing – Integrated Media Systems Center imsc.usc.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. The Emerging Field of Signal Processing on Graphs: Extending High-Dimensional Data Analysis to Networks and Other Irregular Domains arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Active Semi-Supervised Learning Using Sampling Theory for Graph Signals arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. Frontmatter - Introduction to Graph Signal Processing cambridge.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. School Contacts | USC Faculty Portal faculty.usc.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.