PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Frank Lewis

Frank Lewis is an electrical engineer whose work applies neural networks and reinforcement learning to adaptive feedback control. He earned degrees at Rice, the University of West Florida, and Georgia Tech, taught at Georgia Tech, and joined UT Arlington in 1990 as a professor of electrical engineering. His work produced controllers used on Boeing’s Phantom Ray; he received the IEEE CIS Neural Networks Pioneer Award in 2013 and AIAA’s Intelligent Systems Award in 2016. He coauthored inverse reinforcement learning research in 2025 and shared UTA’s College of Engineering Legacy Award in 2026; as of October 2026, he is retired from UTA’s electrical engineering faculty.

Timeline

  1. 1971–1990

    Degrees and faculty appointments

    He earns bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Rice in 1971, an M.S. at the University of West Florida in 1977, and a Ph.D. at Georgia Tech in 1981. At Georgia Tech, he serves as a professor from 1981 to 1990, then joins UT Arlington as a professor of electrical engineering in 1990.

  2. 2013

    Neural Networks Pioneer Award

    In 2013, he receives the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society Neural Networks Pioneer Award.

  3. 2016–2018

    AIAA and Ragazzini awards

    AIAA gives him its Intelligent Systems Award in 2016 for contributions to intelligent neural-adaptive control. In 2018, he receives the John R. Ragazzini Award from the American Automatic Control Council for his work in control education.

  4. 2019

    Adaptive feedback control

    In 2019, he describes using neural networks and reinforcement learning to extend adaptive feedback control. The resulting controllers are implemented on Boeing’s Phantom Ray autonomous aircraft.

  5. 2023–2024

    AAIA fellowship and lab leadership

    The Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association names him a fellow in 2023. In 2024, he leads UTARI’s Autonomous Systems Laboratory with Nicholas Gans.

  6. 2025

    Inverse reinforcement learning paper

    He coauthors “Certified data-driven inverse reinforcement learning of Markov jump systems” with Wenqian Xue and Bosen Lian in 2025. The paper appears in Automatica.

  7. 2026

    UTA Legacy Award

    He shares the UTA College of Engineering Legacy Award with Syed Qasim in 2026.

  8. As of October 2026

    Retired from UTA engineering

    As of October 2026, he is retired from UTA’s electrical engineering faculty.

  1. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI from 1961 to 2025, with a year-by-year chart.
  2. The United States employs an estimated 53% of people in our data with a known employment countryOur estimates of where AI careers are concentrated now and how countries’ shares of dated positions changed over time.
  3. 46% of living people in our data with known birth and employment countries work outside their birth countryOur estimate of cross-border careers in AI, from country of birth and the country of each current organization.
  4. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionOur estimates of where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led, from education records in cited biographies.

Sources and credits

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  1. Faculty Listing - University of Texas Arlington catalog.uta.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Cooperative Control Synchronization: Optimal Design and Games on Communication Graphs - IEEE Control Systems Society ieeecss.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Past Recipients - IEEE Computational Intelligence Society cis.ieee.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. AIAA honors UTA's Frank Lewis with 2016 Intelligent Systems Award - EurekAlert! eurekalert.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. UTA electrical engineering professor earns education award from American Automatic Control Council uta.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Frank Lewis - UTA Magazine uta.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Lewis named fellow by Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association uta.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. UTA to build netted drone facility in Fort Worth uta.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  9. Publications - Intelligent Learning and Control Lab bosen-lian.github.io. Checked 19 October 2026.
  10. College of Engineering Awards - University of Texas at Arlington uta.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  11. College of Engineering Faculty Fellows - University of Texas at Arlington uta.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.