University of South Florida College of Engineering Dean Robert H. Bishop has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), one of the world’s most prestigious technological societies. He is also a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and the founder and former president and CEO of USF’s Institute of Applied Engineering.
Recognized by the IEEE for his distinguished contributions to engineering education, Dr. Bishop is one of the leading and pioneering architects of the core curriculum for undergraduate engineering education in control theory. He is the author of the definitive undergraduate textbook Modern Control Systems, now in its 14th edition, and Learning with Labview, a foundational textbook bridging the gap between theory and practice.
He contributed pioneering and transformative advances to the mechanics and control of flight, particularly for spacecraft. His pioneering work helped significantly advance the U.S. space program through his technical innovations for guidance, navigation and control systems for the early NASA space shuttle and space station programs, and later pioneering advancements in precision navigation and landing capabilities for NASA’s ALHAT Project (Autonomous Landing Hazard Avoidance Technology). He is also a specialist in the area of systems theory, guidance and navigation, and control of spacecraft, including small satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, and guidance for planetary precision landings.
His state-of-the-art work in aerospace control systems and electrical engineering has been sponsored by numerous funding agencies including NASA, Draper Labs, Air Force, US Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), and industrial technology leaders, including Oerlikon-Contraves, Boeing, NEC, Lockheed Martin, and National Instruments.
As Dean, he played a key role in founding the Department of Medical Engineering, the first joint department between USF’s Morsani College of Medicine and College of Engineering. Since its inception in 2016, the department has established a biomedical engineering major accredited by the ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) and grown to more than a dozen full-time faculty and staff.