PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Jerry M. Mendel

Also known as Jerry Marc Mendel

Jerry M. Mendel is a professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Southern California, and IEEE societies have honored his fuzzy logic work with awards in 2008 and 2021. He earned his doctorate at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1963 and joined USC in 1974. In 1992 he and Li-Xin Wang created the Wang-Mendel method, which extracts fuzzy rules from numerical data. His type-2 fuzzy logic systems, introduced in 1999, model a wide range of uncertainties directly.

Timeline

  1. 1963

    A doctorate in Brooklyn

    He earns an electrical engineering doctorate at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1963. He begins work at Douglas Aircraft in 1963.

  2. 1974–1980

    Joining the USC faculty

    He joins the University of Southern California as a visiting associate professor in 1974. He becomes a professor there in 1980.

  3. 1992

    The Wang-Mendel method

    He collaborates with Li-Xin Wang in 1992 to create the Wang-Mendel method, which extracts fuzzy rules from numerical data.

  4. 1999

    Type-2 fuzzy logic systems

    He and his students Nilesh Karnik and Qilian Liang introduce type-2 fuzzy logic systems in 1999. Type-2 fuzzy logic lets a broad range of uncertainties be modeled directly.

  5. 2008

    A Fuzzy Systems Pioneer Award

    The IEEE Computational Intelligence Society gives him its Fuzzy Systems Pioneer Award in 2008.

  6. 2021

    The Lotfi A. Zadeh Pioneer Award

    The IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society gives him its Lotfi A. Zadeh Pioneer Award in 2021, for developing and promoting type-2 fuzzy logic.

  7. 2024

    Third edition of a textbook

    He publishes the third edition of Explainable Uncertain Rule-Based Fuzzy Systems in 2024.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor emeritus at USC

    He is professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Southern California. He is retired and remains an active researcher, mainly on type-2 fuzzy sets and systems.

Sources and credits

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  1. Jerry M. Mendel - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. USC - Viterbi School of Engineering - Viterbi Faculty Directory viterbi.usc.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Jerry M. Mendel – IEEE International Conference on Fuzzy Systems 2021 attend.ieee.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. IEEE SMC Lotfi A. Zadeh Pioneer Award - IEEE SMC ieeesmc.org. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Home | Jerry M. Mendel jmmprof.wixsite.com. Checked 14 October 2026.