*********************************
There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
*********************************
Atlanta, GA | Posted: March 1, 2001
There are just some people who can't resist solving a problem or being involved...
Professor Esogbue happens to fit the mold. In talking with Dr. Augustine 0. Esogbue, I learned that he joined the Georgia Tech faculty in June 1972 as an associate professor, under a joint appointment with the Health Systems Research Center, after a four-year stint as an assistant professor of operations research at Case Western Reserve University. In 1977, Esogbue was promoted to the rank of full professor with tenure, becoming the first African American in the history of Georgia Tech to do so.
In his long-term residency at Tech, Esogbue has made his mark. He is the founder and director of the Intelligent Systems and Control Laboratory whose mission is, according to Esogbue, "the exploration of the use of hybrid algorithms and intelligent control methodologies for modeling and solution of complex control problems, especially those with humans in the loop."
Applications range from manufacturing to space, from electrical power systems to water resources, pollution, and a gamut of problems facing the healthcare industry.
Esogbue is recognized worldwide as one of the leading contributors to the literature of dynamic programming, fuzzy logic and intelligent control. He is the author of five books and 15 book chapters. He has published more than 150 technical papers, as well as made more than 300 technical presentations. He serves on the editorial boards of six international journals.
Esogbue has displayed an uncanny skill and a high level of involvement in the community, both on and off of the Georgia Tech campus. He is a 'White Charter Contributor' to the Harold E. Smalley Health Systems Chair, and the founding chair of the Coalition of 100 Black Youth, Atlanta Chapter. As a member of the 100 Black Men of America, Atlanta Chapter, he has served as co-chair for Administration, Retention and Academic Excellence, Project Success, and the College 100 Mentorship Program. He has been a member of United Way's External Funding and Admissions Committee. Esogbue has received numerous commendations from various governments, including the Fulton County and the City of Atlanta, which he serves as a commissioner and vice chair of the Atlanta Sister Cities Commission. He is also the chair of the American Nigerian International Chamber of Commerce.
Esogbue has been noted in Who's Who in Technology, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Consulting, and most impressive, Who's Who in the World. He was elected in 1972 as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a Senior Member of the IEEE and has been short-listed for the rank of Fellow of IEEE, as well as for the Nigerian Academy of Sciences. In 1996, he was awarded the First Mentor of the Decade Award from the Office of Minority Affairs at Tech. Esogbue, who was a three year letterman in soccer at UCLA and member of the PAC 100 All Conference Soccer Team, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.
Asked if there was a special moment or a moment when he felt "complete" with his career, Esogbue answered, "Being the first winner of the Golden Torch Lifetime Achievement in Education Award of the National Society of Black Engineers. I accepted that award with infinite pleasure and yet humility. It was particularly special because the presentation was made in an Academy Award system atmosphere in Kansas City in March this year, by one of my highly regarded mentees, Dr. Gary S. May, who is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering here at Georgia Tech." In his acceptance speech, he noted that "one of the fringe benefits of being an academician is being rewarded with awards for doing what you truly love to do and an avocation of sorts, and for producing generations of leaders." Among his most treasured achievements is serving as the Founding Advisor (since 1976) of the celebrated Georgia Tech Society of Black Engineers, which has won far more national honors than any other chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. He also considers as gratifying his role "as the author of a 1984 road map for Georgia Tech's Affirmative Action (Faculty) Plan, which studied and developed a plan to increase the number of minority faculty from a paltry value of four to more than seven times that number in 15 years. Georgia Tech is now in the enviable position of having the highest number of black faculty of any majority engineering school, one of the highest producers of black master's and doctoral students in engineering in the United States, and the top institutional choice for matriculating black graduate students. It was clearly not the case in the 1970s and 80s. This is significant progress," he added.
