Anak Agung Julius, assistant professor of electrical, computer, and systems engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has won a Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) from the National Science Foundation (NSF).

Julius will use the five-year, $536,785 award to further his research into computational analysis of hybrid systems.

“Dr. Julius is an outstanding young researcher, and we congratulate him on this well-deserved honor,” said David Rosowsky, dean of Rensselaer’s School of Engineering.

“Agung’s theoretical research at the interface between systems theory, computer science, and systems biology has important and far-reaching applications for mathematical modeling and the analysis of engineering systems. We are excited for Dr. Julius and proud of his accomplishments. We look forward to watching his research develop in this important area, and to his continued success in the years ahead.”

Julius will investigate how best to develop formal analysis methods for stochastic hybrid systems, which are used extensively as the mathematical framework to model dynamic engineering systems and natural phenomena that exhibit randomness. He will look at the probability of such a system reaching an undesirable state, or imperfect result. The proposed outcomes of this investigation are new theoretical insights into the problem, along with computational software tools that implement the theory.

The award will also support Julius’ collaboration with the Rensselaer Center for Initiatives in Pre-College Education (CIPCE) to engage K-12 students and educators in scientific research on campus.

The CAREER Award is given to faculty members at the beginning of their academic careers and is one of NSF’s most competitive awards, placing emphasis on high-quality research and novel education initiatives.

Julius joined the Rensselaer faculty in 2008, from a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology in Indonesia, and went on to earn his master’s and doctoral degrees in applied mathematics from the University of Twente in the Netherlands.