Introduction

Azad M. Madni is an internationally renowned researcher and educator, successful entrepreneur, acclaimed author, and a long-time philanthropist. He is also a highly sought out mentor. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer in transdisciplinary systems engineering and transdisciplinary engineering education. His research is focused on intelligent digital twinning, Augmented Intelligence, deep learning and green learning, digital twin-enabled Model Based Systems Engineering, and interactive storytelling in virtual worlds. He received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. degrees in Engineering (major: engineering systems; minor: AI, computer methodology) from UCLA. He is a graduate of AEA/Stanford Executive Institute. He is the founder and CEO of Intelligent Systems Technology, Inc. an AI company that exploits AI in the role of Augmented Intelligence to enhance human performance, amplify human capabilities, and optimize human-AI teaming in complex systems engineering, healthcare, manufacturing, and training and education.

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​Technology Pioneer

He pioneered the field of transdisciplinary systems engineering and wrote an award-winning book on the subject, Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering: Exploiting Convergence in a Hyperconnected World (Springer, 2018). He defined Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering as “a meta-discipline that exploits the convergence of engineering with other disciplines to understand, frame, and explore solutions to complex sociotechnical systems problems that appear intractable when viewed solely through an engineering lens.” In 2023, he received the prestigious IEEE Simon Ramo Medal, for exceptional achievements in systems engineering and systems science (https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2023/01/azad-madni-receives-the-prestigious-ieee-simon-ramo-medal/). In 2026, he received the ASME’s prestigious Spirit of St. Louis Medal, for his meritorious contributions to advancing the fields of  aeronautics and astronautics (https://viterbischool.usc.edu/news/2025/12/azad-madni-honored-by-asme-with-spirit-of-st-louis-medal/). A member of the US National Academy of Engineering and Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, he holds fellowships in more than 20 science and engineering academies and societies. He is internationally renowned for his pioneering contributions to transdisciplinary systems engineering education and research (https://www.globalindian.com/story/global-indian-exclusive/a-global-engineer-meet-the-gordon-prize-winner-indian-american-scholar-dr-azad-madni/).

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Based on the principles in his book on Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering and principles of the learning sciences, he created TRASEE™, an engineering education paradigm that removes the artificial walls that exist in today’s siloed courses in the engineering curricula. For these pioneering achievements, he received the National Academy of Engineering 2023 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education  (https://www.nae.edu/289413/National-Academy-of-Engineering-Announces-Winner-of-the-2023-Bernard-M-Gordon-Prize-for-Innovation-in-Engineering-and-Technology-Education), the highest honor in engineering education which comes with a $500k prize. In keeping with his philanthropic bent, he requested the NAE to retain his share of the prize to set up a fund in his name and his wife’s name to pursue advances in transdisciplinary systems engineering (YouTube video from award ceremony Link: https://youtu.be/i99SqN_G5eY).  

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Previously, as the Executive Vice President for R&D and CTO of Perceptronics, Inc., he led the company’s R&D in distributed training simulation technology, and adaptive human-machine teaming techniques in airborne and ground-based platforms. Prior to that, he led navigation system modeling and simulation activities on NASA’s Space Shuttle Program at Rockwell International. Specifically, he developed a model-based approach for testing shuttle navigation system performance that produced significant savings for the program earning him several awards and honors including the prestigious 2021 IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society’s Judith A. Resnik Space Award for excellence in Space Systems Engineering.

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​University Professor​

He is a University Professor of Astronautics, Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California. The designation of University Professor honors USC’s most accomplished multidisciplinary faculty with significant achievements across multiple technical fields. He is the holder of the Northrop Grumman Fred O’Green Chair in Engineering, and the Executive Director of University of USC’s Systems Architecting and Engineering Program. Under his leadership, USC’s Systems Architecting and Engineering Program has become a top-rated graduate SE program in the world. He has transformed engineering education through TRASEE™, the educational paradigm that he created based on his book on Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering. TRASEE combines principles from the learning sciences, storytelling, and new cross-disciplinary instructional content to enhance classroom and online instruction, as well as hands-on learning.

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He also holds joint appointments in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Daniel J. Epstein Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering,  the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and courtesy appointments in the Rossier School of Education and Keck School of Medicine (ophthalmology). He is the Founding Director of the Distributed Autonomy and Intelligent Systems Laboratory and is a faculty affiliate of USC’s Ginsberg Institute for Biomedical Therapeutics in the Keck School of Medicine. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute founded by Nobel Laureate, George Olah. He is a member of Advisory Board of the London Digital Twin Research Centre.

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Industry Leader

He is the founder and CEO of Intelligent Systems Technology, Inc. (ISTI), an award-winning hi-tech company specializing in model-based approaches for addressing scientific and societal problems of national and global significance. Under his leadership, the company grew 1588% in the first 5 years garnering numerous awards and honors. He advanced the field of augmented intelligence and human-machine teaming to maximize the joint performance of human-machine teams. He is the Chief Systems Engineering Advisor to The Aerospace Corporation. He has served as a Principal Investigator on more than 100 R&D contracts and grants totaling more than $100 million in funding from government research agencies such as DARPA, NSF, NASA, DHS, DOE, NIST, DOT, OSD, DTRA, AFOSR, AFRL, and ONR, and aerospace and automotive companies such as Boeing, NGC, Raytheon, GM, and Cruise.

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Philanthropist

He has a long history of philanthropy and has received several awards for his philanthropic activities. In 2021, he received the Benefactor Award from the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) for his decades of philanthropy and mentoring engineering students worldwide. This was only the second time in 34 years that INCOSE made this award. In 2020, he received the IEEE-USA Entrepreneurship Achievement Award for “a lifetime of innovation, mentoring, and philanthropy.” He is a life member of the NAE Marie Curie Donor Society, the NAE Albert Einstein Donor Society, and the Society.

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Awards and Honors

He has received approximately 100 awards and honors from major science and engineering professional societies. His educational awards include the 2026 USC Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2023 NAE Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education, the IISE Albert G. Holzman Distinguished Educator Award, the AIAA/ASEE John Leland Atwood Award for excellence in engineering education and research, the 2019 ASEE/INCOSE Outstanding Systems Engineering Educator Award. His research awards include the 2025 USC Associates Award for Creativity in Research and  Scholarship, 2023 ASME Honorary Membership, the 2020 IEEE SMC Norbert Wiener Outstanding Research Award, the 2019 IEEE AESS Pioneer Award, and the 2019 NDIA Ferguson Award for Excellence in Systems Engineering, the 2019 Society of Modeling and Simulation Presidential Award, and the 2006 SDPS C.V. Ramamoorthy Distinguished Scholar Award.  His leadership awards and honors include the 2023 ASME CIE Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2019 ASME CIE Leadership Award.  In 2016, Boeing honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award and a Visionary Systems Engineering Leadership Award for his “impact on Boeing, the aerospace industry, and the nation.”

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Author

He is the author of Transdisciplinary Systems Engineering: Exploiting Convergence in a Hyper-connected World, (foreword by Norm Augustine), Springer, 2018. He is the co-author of Tradeoff Decisions in System Design, Springer, 2016. He is the series Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Conference on Systems Engineering (CSER) Proceedings. He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Handbook of Model Based Systems Engineering with Norm Augustine, Springer 2023, and Deep Learning Networks: Design, Development, and Deployment (Springer, September 2023).  He has 425+ publications comprising three authored books, seven edited books, and 22 book chapters, and numerous journal articles, peer-reviewed conference publications, and research reports. He has given 100+ keynotes and invited talks worldwide.​​

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Education

Ph.D.,1978 Engineering  

Major: Engineering Systems; Minors: Computer Methodology, AI

University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095

Dissertation: Adaptive Classification of Myoelectric Signal Patterns for Multifunctional Prosthesis Control

                          

M.S., 1971 Engineering  

University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095

Thesis: On the Solution of Implicit Ordinary Differential Equations

                          

B.S., 1968 Engineering  

University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095

 

“Mini”- MBA AEA/Stanford Program for Senior Executives

Executive Institute at Stanford University, Palo Alto, California 94305​