Afef Fekih

Biography

Afef Fekih received the BS, MS and PhD degrees all in Electrical Engineering from the National Engineering School of Tunis, Tunisia in 1995, 1998 and 2002, respectively. Since 2016 she has been a Full Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the director of the advanced controls laboratory at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA. Her research interests focus on control theory and applications, including nonlinear and robust control, optimal control, fault tolerant control with applications to power systems, wind turbines, unmanned vehicles and automotive engines. She co-authored more than 200 publications in international journals, chapters, and conference proceedings. Her research was featured by Thomson Reuters Science Watch® Essential Science Indicators and recognized by multiple awards including the Harold Callais/BORSF Professorship in Electrical and Computer Engineering since 2008, the O’Krepki/LEQSF Regents Professorship in Telecommunications since 2018, and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Distinguished Professor Award in 2022.

She is an “appointed member” of the Board of Governors of the IEEE Control Systems Society (2023-2024).  A member of the American Automatic Control Council (AACC) Technical Committee on Control Education, the IFAC Technical Committee on Power and Energy Systems, and the IEEE Systems Council Diversity & Inclusion Committee. She is currently serving as the Co-Chair for the IEEE CSS Women in Control standing committee (WiC) and served as vice-chair (2020-2022).  She co-organized several outreach activities through the IEEE WiC, where she had been serving as advisory board member since 2014, and media coordinator since 2019. She organized and chaired several sessions at international technical conferences. She served as the local arrangements chair for the 2021 American Control Conference. Currently serving as the publications chair for the 2023 American Control Conference and will be serving as the registration chair for the 2024 American Control Conference. Dr. Fekih is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a member of the IEEE Technology conference editorial board. She has served as a reviewer and guest editor for numerous journals and conferences.