Marcus, Steve
Professor Emeritus
Former Director, Institute for Systems Research
Former Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Former Director, Institute for Systems Research
Former Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering
The Institute for Systems Research
The Institute for Systems Research
2219 A.V. Williams Bldg.
Steve Marcus received his Ph.D. and S.M. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1975 and 1972, respectively. He received a B.A. from Rice University in 1971. From 1975 to 1991, he was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was the L.B. (Preach) Meaders Professor in Engineering. He was associate chair of the Department from 1984-89.
In 1991, he joined the University of Maryland, where he was director of the Institute for Systems Research until 1996. He is currently a Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Institute for Systems Research. He also served as the chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department.
Honors and awards
Poole & Kent Teaching Award, 2013
Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award, University of Maryland, 2000-2001
Outstanding Systems Engineering Faculty Award, Institute for Systems Research, University of Maryland, 1998
IEEE Fellow, 1986
NSF Research Initiation Award
Editor-in-Chief, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, 2000-2005
Corresponding Editor, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, 1991-1999, 2006-2008
Associate Editor, SIAM Journal on Control and Optimization, 1990-91
Member, Editorial Advisory Board, Acta Applicandae Mathematicae: An International Journal on Applying Mathematics and Mathematical Applications, 1983-2007
Associate Editor, Mathematics of Control, Signals, and Systems, 1987-2002
Associate Editor, IEEE Trans. Information Theory, 1990-1992
Associate Editor, Discrete Event Dynamic Systems: Theory and Applications, 1990-2001
Associate Editor, IEEE Trans. Automatic Control, 1980-81
Control and systems engineering, analysis and control of stochastic systems, Markov decision processes, stochastic and adaptive control, learning, fault detection, and discrete event systems, with applications in manufacturing and communication networks
Reinforcement learning is a game for Kaiqing Zhang
Zhang's research lies at the intersection of machine learning, reinforcement learning, game theory, and control theory.ISR gives awards to Professor Richard La, four graduate students
ISR's annual awards ceremony was held on the Iribe Building's cantilever plaza.Pamela Abshire is named UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
She is one of six Clark School faculty honored at the university's annual convocation.Alumnus Stefano Coraluppi elected IEEE Fellow
Coraluppi elevated "for contributions to multi-sensor, multi-target tracking."Fu, Marcus team for new AFOSR project on simulation optimization
Simulation optimization aims to guide planning and decision making under uncertainty in complex dynamic settings.New algorithms for estimating the latent dynamics underlying biological processes
Work by Miran, Presacco, Babadi, Simon, Fu and Marcus published in PLOS Computational Biology.Behtash Babadi promoted to associate professor
Babadi has broad research interests in statistical and adaptive signal processing, neural signal processing, and systems neuroscience.UMD names Derek Paley as a 2020–2021 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
The program recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated outstanding scholarly achievement along with equally outstanding accomplishments as teachers.Alumnus Kevin Galloway earns tenure at the U.S. Naval Academy
Galloway is a 2001 EE Ph.D., advised by Professor P.S. Krishnaprasad (ECE/ISR).ECE Names 2019-2020 Distinguished Dissertation Fellows
Das, Demertziz, Nguyen, and Zou have been selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellows for 2019-20.AlphaGo family of AI programs grew from AMS simulation-based algorithms developed at UMD
New review article by original author Michael Fu traces game-playing AI programs to seminal 2005 paper in Operations Research.Five recipients of ISR Graduate Student Travel Award announced
Eight graduate students have received funding through the award since 2017.Maryland researchers awarded $1M DARPA Lagrange program cooperative agreement
Marcus, Fu, Simon and Babadi will build a scalable, risk-sensitive and real time optimization framework tailored to noninvasive neuroimaging data from the human brain.Three ISR graduate students win new travel award
Bhaskar Ramasubramian, Hossein Salami, and Sayyed Sina Miran will receive funding to help defray the cost of presenting their research at a professional conference.Researchers write about Google's AlphaGo for OR/MS Today
Chang, Fu, Hu and Marcus write about their contribution to AlphaGo and how the OR and CS/AI communities could better cooperate.More than 175 attend national Denice Denton Emerging Leaders Workshop
Faculty development workshop helped mid-career STEM academics develop knowledge, skills, strategies and critical networks.Sennur Ulukus named UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
Ulukus is the ninth ISR faculty member to be so honored.Maryland research contributes to Google’s AlphaGo AI system
Chang, Fu, Hu and Marcus developed ideas at the core of the system that defeated Go master Lee Se-Dol in early March.Alumna Enlu Zhou earns tenure at Georgia Tech
The 2009 EE Ph.D. recipient was advised by Steve Marcus and Michael Fu.Alumna Enlu Zhou wins NSF CAREER Award for optimization and sampling in stochastic simulation
Zhou was co-advised by Steve Marcus and Michael Fu.Cleaveland, Marcus win NSF grant to develop models for cyber-physical systems
New mathematical techniques will develop more realistic models of these systems and better predict their behavior.Srivastava, Dey, Mirsky, King win 2014 ISR Awards
Awards honor outstanding faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and staff.Marcus, Fu receive NSF grant for optimization research
The research will develop a new framework for incorporating risk into sequential decision making under uncertainty.Reza Ghodssi named UMD Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
Ghodssi is the eighth ISR faculty member to be so honored by the university.Six ECE Graduate Students Selected as Future Faculty Fellows
Students striving toward a career in academia take part in a selective fellowship to prepare for the future.Clark School Celebrates Students, Honors Alumni and Faculty at Spring 2013 Commencement
More than 860 engineering students received diplomas at May 20 ceremony.Steve Marcus wins 2013 Poole and Kent Company Teaching Award
Marcus has been a major contributor to the Clark School's Future Faculty Program.Min Wu named Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
Wu is the seventh ISR faculty member to be so honored.Raghavan, Spyropoulos, Daily, Copeland win ISR awards
Outstanding awards presented at special reception in September.Steve Marcus becomes University of Maryland's Director of Faculty Leadership
Marcus is a former director of ISR and former chair of ECE.Carol Espy-Wilson named 2012-2013 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
She is sixth ISR professor to be so honored.Alumna Enlu Zhou wins AFOSR Young Investigators award
She will be investigating “Dynamic Decision Making under Uncertainty and Partial Information.”2011 ISR Awards Ceremony winners announced
Awards given to faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students.Roger Brockett honored for devotion to graduate student advising
ISR-affiliated faculty member receives Harvard's Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising.Avis Cohen honored as 2011–2012 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
Cohen joins Liu, Fu, Marcus and McAvoy as fifth ISR professor honored with the award.Wang wins best student paper award at Winter Simulation Conference
"Model-based Evolutionary Optimization" presents a new framework for solving global optimization problems.Wang Wins ICS 2010 Student Paper Award
ECE Ph.D. student Yongqiang Wang received the INFORMS Computing Society (ICS) 2010 Student Paper Award.Work by Zhou, Lin, Marcus and Fu wins 'Best Theoretical Paper' award
'A Numerical Method for Financial Decision Problems under Stochastic Volatility' is honored at the Winter Simulation Conference.Former Director Eyad Abed honored at ISR reception
Abed is now a dean at United Arab Emirates University.IEEE Control Systems Magazine covers 'MarcusFest'
Magazine reports on Advances in Discrete Event, Nonlinear, and Stochastic Systems Modeling and Control: A Symposium in Honor of Steven I. Marcus.Marcus, Fu receive NSF grant for particle filtering for stochastic control and global optimization
The resulting algorithms will be tested on problems in industries from telecommunications to manufacturing to finance.Cleaveland, Marcus part of $10 million NSF collaborative research grant
The project focuses on model checking and abstract interpretation for embedded control and systems biology. Maryland's portion is $1.8M.Fu, Marcus awarded NSF collaborative research grant
Research will make theoretical and practical advances in simulation optimization.Fourteen ISR-affiliated students receive Ph.D.s
Congratulations to our ISR-affiliated doctoral graduates!Enlu Zhou is a winner at Clark School Doctoral Research Award Competition
Student of Steve Marcus and Michael Fu wins third place for her research.Steve Marcus honored as SIAM Fellow
ECE/ISR professor is part of the inaugural class of the society's Fellows.Enlu Zhou To Join Faculty at Univ. of Illinois
ECE Ph.D. candidate will serve as Assistant Professor in Industrial & Enterprise Systems Engineering.Enlu Zhou is named ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellow
ISR grad student is advised by Steve Marcus and Michael Fu.Six ISR students chosen for Clark School's Future Faculty Program
The program aims to increase the number of Ph.D. graduates who obtain academic positions in prestigious engineering schools.Six ISR students selected for Future Faculty Program
Clark School program helps students prepare for academic positions.ECE Faculty Honored at Inaugural Scholarship & Research Celebration
Twenty-seven ECE faculty members honored, representing 1/8 of researchers recognized university-wide.Marcus, Fu, Chang and Hu co-author Simulation-based Algorithms for Markov Decision Processes
Book explains recent sampling and population-based numerical algorithms that overcome the difficulties of computing an optimal solution in terms of a policy and/or value function.K.J. Ray Liu honored as 2007-2008 Distinguished Scholar-Teacher
Liu joins Fu, Marcus and McAvoy as fourth ISR professor honored with the award in the past decade.Jiaqiao Hu accepts SUNY Stony Brook faculty position
Ph.D. candidate joins Applied Mathematics and Statistics DepartmentQu Team Receives NCIIA Grant for Secure E-Payment System
Team earns grant from National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance.ISR collaborations with Toshiba
Toshiba researchers explore future research collaborations and reliability engineeringNew visiting scientist arrives at ISR
Dr. Inn Ho Jee and five new postdoctoral researchers are welcomedOther professional society fellows
- Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Fellow, 2009
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
- Fellow, 1986
- AFOSR: Simulation Optimization: New Approaches to Gradient-based Search and Maximum Likelihood Estimation
- DARPA: An Optimization-based Approach to Breaking the Neural Code
- AFOSR: Simulation-Based and Risk-Sensitive Methodologies for Stochastic Optimization and Control
- NSF CPS Breakthrough: Compositional Modeling of Cyber-Physical Systems
- NSF: A New Approach to Nonconvex Risk-Sensitive Stochastic Optimization
- Combining Gradient and Adaptive Search in Simulation Optimization
- Next-Generation Model Checking and Abstract Interpretation with a Focus on Embedded Control and Systems Biology
- Particle Filtering for Stochastic Control and Global Optimization
- Cyber-Physical Systems: Compositionality and Opacity
- Simulation-based methods for control and optimization
- Generalized synchronization trees
- Materials, Nano, & Bio Research for Systems
- Simulation-Based Methods for Control and Optimization
- Solving Continuous-State POMDPs via Density Projection
- The Maryland Governor’s Institute of Technology: The Electrical and Computer Engineering Technical Program