PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Jagannathan Sarangapani

Also known as Jag Sarangapani, Sarangapani Jagannathan, S. Jagannathan

Jagannathan Sarangapani is an electrical engineer at Missouri University of Science and Technology who builds neural networks and learning into the feedback controllers of aircraft, engines, robots and other machines. Trained at Anna University, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Texas at Arlington, he worked as a staff engineer for Caterpillar and taught at the University of Texas at San Antonio before joining Missouri S&T in 2001. In 2006 he published the book Neural Network Control of Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems, and IEEE named him a Fellow in 2016 for nonlinear discrete-time neural network adaptive control. The IEEE Control Systems Society gave him its 2018 Transition to Practice Award for carrying adaptive neural network controllers into industrial practice, and the National Academy of Inventors elected him a Fellow in 2018. Today he is a Curators' Distinguished Professor and Rutledge-Emerson Chair, with active grants on deep learning-based control and multiagent reinforcement learning.

Timeline

  1. By 2001

    Caterpillar and UT San Antonio

    He earns a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Anna University in Madras, a master's from the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon and a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington. Before joining Missouri S&T in 2001, he works as a staff engineer for Caterpillar and serves on the faculty of the University of Texas at San Antonio. He receives an NSF CAREER Award in 2000 and a Caterpillar Research Excellence Award in 2001.

  2. 2001–2005

    Professor at Missouri S&T

    He joins Missouri S&T, formerly the University of Missouri-Rolla, as an associate professor in 2001 and becomes a full professor in 2005. For 13 years he serves as the campus site director of the National Science Foundation's Industry/University Cooperative Research Center on Intelligent Maintenance Systems.

  3. 2006

    A book on neural network control

    He publishes Neural Network Control of Nonlinear Discrete-Time Systems with CRC/Taylor & Francis in 2006. Its chapters cover system identification with discrete-time neural networks, discrete-time model reference adaptive control, Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman optimal control and embedded hardware for neural network controllers.

  4. 2014–2016

    Fellow of IEEE and IET

    He becomes a Fellow of the Institute of Measurement and Control in 2014 and of the Institution of Engineering and Technology in 2015. IEEE names him a Fellow in 2016 for contributions to nonlinear discrete-time neural network adaptive control and applications.

  5. 2018–2019

    Inventor and practice awards

    In 2018, he is one of 148 inventors elected Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors; Boeing and Caterpillar are among the companies that benefit from his intelligent control technology. The IEEE Control Systems Society gives him its 2018 Transition to Practice Award for adaptive neural network feedback control schemes and their translation into industrial practice. He accepts it in August 2019 at the IEEE Conference on Control Technology and Applications in Hong Kong.

  6. 2021–2023

    Curators' Distinguished Professor

    His neural network discoveries find use in manufacturing, medicine, robotics, autonomous systems and aerospace, and in 2021 he receives the University of Missouri President's Award for Excellence: Sustained Career, STEM. The University of Missouri Board of Curators names him a Curators' Distinguished Professor in September 2023.

  7. 2024

    Event-triggered control book

    With former doctoral students Vignesh Narayanan and Avimanyu Sahoo, he publishes Optimal Event-Triggered Control Using Adaptive Dynamic Programming with CRC Press in 2024. The book designs event-triggered controllers for networked control systems, with applications such as robot manipulators and drones.

  8. As of October 2026

    Rutledge-Emerson Chair at Rolla

    He is a Curators' Distinguished Professor and Rutledge-Emerson Chair at Missouri S&T, with a courtesy appointment in computer science, and studies neural network decision making and control, cyber-physical systems and robotics with healthcare applications. His active grants include Office of Naval Research work on safe and resilient deep learning-based optimal adaptive tracking (2024–2029) and a project on human-machine teaming with multiagent reinforcement learning (2024–2027).

  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. S&T electrical engineering expert named Curators’ Distinguished Professor web-archive.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  2. Jagannathan Sarangapani – Electrical and Computer Engineering | Missouri S&T ece.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  3. Jagannathan Sarangapani - 2018 recipient of IEEE CSS Transition to Practice Award | IEEE Control Systems Society ieeecss.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  4. Neural network control of nonlinear discrete-time systems. (2006) eld.bl.uk. Checked 19 October 2026.
  5. Jagannathan Sarangapani - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 19 October 2026.
  6. Professor named to National Academy of Inventors econnection.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  7. Sarangapani named to national academy of inventors magazine.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  8. Sarangapani honored in Hong Kong econnection.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  9. Two professors win President’s Awards econnection.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  10. Sarangapani’s team publishes book on realizing cyber-physical systems econnection.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.
  11. Optimal Event-Triggered Control Using Adaptive Dynamic Programming - 1st Edition routledge.com. Checked 19 October 2026.
  12. Dr. Sarangapani sites.mst.edu. Checked 19 October 2026.