PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Steven Brunton

Also known as Steven L. Brunton, Steve Brunton, eigensteve

Steven Brunton is a mechanical engineer at the University of Washington whose research combines machine learning with dynamical systems to model and control fluid flows and other complex systems. After a mathematics degree at Caltech in 2006 and a Princeton PhD in 2012, he joined the Washington faculty in 2014. With Joshua Proctor and Nathan Kutz, he posted the 2015 paper behind the SINDy method for discovering governing equations from data, and in 2019 Cambridge University Press published his textbook Data-Driven Science and Engineering with Kutz. He was among the 2019 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and was elected an American Physical Society Fellow in 2024. At Washington, he is the Boeing Professor in AI & Data-Driven Engineering, directs the AI Center for Dynamics and Control, and is associate director of the NSF AI Institute in Dynamic Systems.

Born
1984
Works
613
Citations
41,767
h-index
81
Badges

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

Timeline

  1. 2006–2014

    A Princeton PhD and Washington

    He earns a BS in mathematics at Caltech in 2006, with a minor in control and dynamical systems, and a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton in 2012. From 2012 to 2014 he is an acting assistant professor of applied mathematics at the University of Washington, and in 2014 he joins its mechanical engineering faculty as an assistant professor.

  2. 2015–2016

    Discovering equations with SINDy

    In 2015, he posts a paper with Joshua L. Proctor and J. Nathan Kutz that uses sparse regression to find the fewest terms needed in the governing equations of a dynamical system from measurement data. The paper appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, and the method goes by the name SINDy, the sparse identification of nonlinear dynamics.

  3. 2016–2019

    Books on data-driven science

    SIAM publishes Dynamic Mode Decomposition in 2016, a book he coauthors with J. Nathan Kutz and others. In 2019, Cambridge University Press publishes Data-Driven Science and Engineering, his textbook with Kutz that brings together machine learning, engineering mathematics and mathematical physics.

  4. 2019

    A Presidential early career award

    In 2019, he is one of six University of Washington professors announced by the White House as recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The Army Research Office nominates him for using machine learning to build efficient models of fluid mechanics.

  5. 2021

    An NSF AI institute at Washington

    In 2021, the National Science Foundation announces a University of Washington-led AI Institute for Dynamic Systems, one of 11 new AI research institutes funded at about $20 million over five years. J. Nathan Kutz is its director and Brunton its associate director, and the institute launches in October 2021 with a focus on AI and machine learning for dynamic systems.

  6. 2021–2022

    Moore Scholar at Caltech

    He is a Moore Distinguished Scholar at Caltech from 2021 to 2022. His lab's sparse optimization technology, developed with Boeing, is in production on the 737, 787 and 777 manufacturing lines.

  7. 2024

    An APS Fellowship

    In 2024, he is elected an American Physical Society Fellow through the Division of Fluid Dynamics, for contributions to the modeling and control of fluid dynamics, including using machine learning to discover governing equations and reduced-order models from data.

  8. As of October 2026

    Boeing Professor at Washington

    At the University of Washington, he is the Boeing Professor in AI & Data-Driven Engineering in mechanical engineering, with an adjunct appointment in applied mathematics and a Data Science Fellow role at the eScience Institute. His other roles include director of the AI Center for Dynamics and Control and associate director of the NSF AI Institute in Dynamic Systems. Through the YouTube channel eigensteve, he teaches math to engineers.

Career

  1. Since 2012University of WashingtonActing Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering
  2. 2023–2026Dynamic Systems
  3. 2021–2022California Institute of TechnologyMoore Distinguished Scholar

Education

  1. 2012Princeton UniversityPhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering
  2. 2006California Institute of TechnologyBS in mathematics

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

  1. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Washington. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  2. The median h-index is 48 at universities and 14 at frontier AI labsIncludes University of Washington. 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.
  3. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes University of Washington. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes University of Washington. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Steve Brunton | UW Department of Mechanical Engineering me.washington.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. [1509.03580] Discovering governing equations from data: Sparse identification of nonlinear dynamical systems arxiv.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Steven L. Brunton - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Data-Driven Science and Engineering | Cambridge University Press cambridge.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. UW professors to receive 2019 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers | UW News washington.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. UW to lead new NSF institute for using artificial intelligence to understand dynamic systems | UW News washington.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Professors Kutz and Brunton to head new UW-led AI Institute for Dynamic Systems amath.washington.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. AI for engineering | UW Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering ece.uw.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. Moore Scholars - Division of Engineering and Applied Science eas.caltech.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  10. ME Professor Steve Brunton elected American Physical Society Fellow me.washington.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  11. Machine Learning at the Flatiron Institute Seminar: Steve Brunton – Simons Foundation simonsfoundation.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  12. Steven Brunton | IEEE Control Systems Society ieeecss.org. Checked 20 October 2026.