Claire Tomlin standing in front of a project of an aerial device

Research Bio

Claire Tomlin holds the James and Katherine Lau Chair in Engineering. Her research interests include hybrid systems, distributed and decentralized optimization, and control theory, with an emphasis on applications, unmanned aerial vehicles, air traffic control and modeling of biological processes. She taught at Stanford University from 1998 to-2007 where she was a director of the Hybrid Systems Laboratory and held joint positions in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Department of Electrical Engineering. She was awarded a MacArthur Genius grant in 2006 and the IEEE Transportation Technologies Award in 2017 "for contributions to air transportation systems, focusing on collision avoidance protocol design and avionics safety verification".

Research Expertise and Interest

electrical engineering, computer sciences, control, biosystems, control theory, intelligent systems, robotics, hybrid and embedded systems, biological cell networks

In the News

Nine faculty elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Nine UC Berkeley faculty have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a prestigious nonpartisan research center that convenes scholars and leaders in academic, business and government sectors, drawing expertise across disciplines, to address the most complex challenges of our time. Here are this year’s honorees:

Teaching

Courses taught during the three most recent terms
2026 Spring
  • Supervised Independent Study  [COMPSCI 199]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [ELENG 199]  

  • Individual Research  [ELENG 299]  

2025 Fall
  • Supervised Independent Study  [COMPSCI 199]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [ELENG 199]  

  • Linear System Theory  [ELENG 221A]  

  • Individual Research  [ELENG 299]  

  • Feedback Control Systems  [ELENG C128]  

2025 Summer
  • Supervised Independent Study  [ELENG 199]  

  • Field Studies in Electrical Engineering  [ELENG 297]  

  • Individual Research  [ELENG 299]  

2025 Spring
  • Supervised Independent Study  [COMPSCI 199]  

  • Supervised Independent Study  [ELENG 199]  

  • Individual Research  [ELENG 299]  

  • Master of Engineering Capstone Project  [ENGIN 296MB]