PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Masayoshi Tomizuka

Masayoshi Tomizuka is a Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley whose work includes robot learning, autonomous driving and mechanical systems control. He earned degrees at Keio University and MIT, then joined Berkeley’s Department of Mechanical Engineering in 1974. He coauthored the 2020 EvolveGraph trajectory prediction paper and a 2024 study that used a large language model to teach cooperative driving. He received the 2018 Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award and joined the National Academy of Engineering in 2022; he now directs Berkeley’s Mechanical Systems Control Lab and co-directs the Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics.

Now at
University of California, Berkeley, Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics and National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University
Works
1,043
Citations
28,559
h-index
77
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 28 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1946–1970

    Tokyo and Keio University

    Tomizuka is born in Tokyo in 1946. He earns bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering at Keio University in 1968 and 1970.

  2. 1974

    MIT doctorate and Berkeley

    In 1974, he earns a doctorate in mechanical engineering at MIT and joins the faculty of UC Berkeley’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

  3. 1988–1999

    Editing control research journals

    He serves as technical editor of the ASME Journal of Dynamic Systems, Measurement and Control from 1988 to 1993. From 1997 to 1999, he is editor-in-chief of IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics; he also serves as president of the American Automatic Control Council from 1998 to 1999.

  4. 2002–2004

    Directing the NSF control program

    From September 2002 to December 2004, he directs the National Science Foundation’s Dynamic Systems and Control Program. He receives the Rufus Oldenburger Medal in 2002.

  5. 2009–2011

    Executive associate dean at Berkeley

    From 2009 to 2011, he serves as executive associate dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering.

  6. 2018

    The Bellman Control Heritage Award

    He receives the American Automatic Control Council’s Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award in 2018 for his contributions to the theory and practice of mechatronic systems control.

  7. March 2020

    EvolveGraph predicts interacting agents

    In March 2020, he coauthors EvolveGraph with Jiachen Li, Fan Yang and Chiho Choi. The framework predicts the future paths of interacting agents through graphs that change as their relationships evolve.

  8. 2022

    National Academy of Engineering election

    In 2022, he is elected to the National Academy of Engineering for his work on mechanical systems control, its industrial applications and the education of engineers.

  9. October 2024–August 2025

    Language models teach cooperative driving

    In October 2024, he coauthors Language-Driven Policy Distillation for Cooperative Driving in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning. The method uses a large language model as a teacher whose demonstrations train smaller agents to make cooperative driving decisions; a revised version appears in August 2025.

  10. As of October 2026

    Berkeley professor and lab director

    As of October 2026, he is the Cheryl and John Neerhout, Jr. Distinguished Professor, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Associate Dean for Faculty in UC Berkeley’s College of Engineering. He directs Berkeley’s Mechanical Systems Control Lab, which studies robot learning and autonomous driving, and serves as co-director of the Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics. At National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University’s Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, he is a Chair Professor.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of California, BerkeleyCheryl and John Neerhout, Jr. Distinguished Professor; Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering
  2. NowUniversity of California, BerkeleyAssociate Dean for Faculty
  3. NowUniversity of California, BerkeleyDirector of the Mechanical Systems Control Lab
  4. NowHong Kong Centre for Logistics RoboticsCo-director
  5. NowNational Yang Ming Chiao Tung UniversityChair Professor
  6. 2024–2026University of Texas at Austin
  7. 2009–2011University of California, BerkeleyExecutive Associate Dean
  8. 2002–2004National Science FoundationDirector of the Dynamic Systems and Control Program
  9. From 1974University of California, BerkeleyFaculty member

Education

  1. 1974Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPhD in mechanical engineering
  2. 1970Keio UniversityMS in mechanical engineering
  3. 1968Keio UniversityBS in mechanical engineering

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

Checked career sources: cacs2025.web.nycu.edu.tw.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Masayoshi Tomizuka yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Thursday, November 6, 2025 – CACS 2025 cacs2025.web.nycu.edu.tw. Checked 28 October 2026.
  2. Masayoshi Tomizuka - UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineering me.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  3. Designing Robot Behavior in Human-Robot Interactions - 1st Edition routledge.com. Checked 28 October 2026.
  4. ME Professor Masayoshi Tomizuka Receives AACC’s Richard E. Bellman Control Heritage Award me.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  5. EvolveGraph: Multi-Agent Trajectory Prediction with Dynamic Relational Reasoning arxiv.org. Checked 28 October 2026.
  6. Masayoshi Tomizuka named to National Academy of Engineering engineering.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  7. Language-Driven Policy Distillation for Cooperative Driving in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning arxiv.org. Checked 28 October 2026.
  8. Mechanical Systems Control Lab msc.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  9. Hong Kong Centre for Logistics Robotics (HKCLR) | CUHK InnoHK Centres | Research & Impact | CUHK cuhk.edu.hk. Checked 28 October 2026.
  10. MASAYOSHI TOMIZUKA Chair Professor | National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University | Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering dee.nycu.edu.tw. Checked 28 October 2026.