CMS-EE Partners Tech Talk with Xtelligent

How do you take ideas from control theory and AI out of the lab and into systems that keep cities moving and the country secure?

Xtelligent co-founders Michael Lim (CEO) and Ketan Savla (Chief Science Officer) will explain how the company applies dynamic network control and open-architecture design to critical infrastructure, from cooperative intelligent transportation systems backed by the Department of Energy to infrastructure defense applications for the Department of Defense. Together, they'll describe the path from academic research to a government-backed deep-tech company, the technical problems the team is working on now, and what it takes to deploy autonomy in places where failure is not an option.

Students interested in control systems, networked autonomy, optimization, and AI are encouraged to attend.

Speakers: 

Michael Lim is co-founder and CEO of Xtelligent, a U.S. government-backed company applying dynamic network control and open-architecture design to critical infrastructure, from cooperative intelligent transportation systems supported by the Department of Energy to infrastructure defense applications for the Department of Defense. Previously, he served as an Executive Advisor to the City of Los Angeles, leading its automated vehicle and connected infrastructure strategy. He began his career with the United Nations, rebuilding essential systems in post-conflict and post-disaster areas across the Asia Pacific region. He holds an MBA from Wharton and a BA from the Department of City and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley.

Ketan Savla is co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Xtelligent, where he brings deep expertise in distributed robust and optimal control, dynamical networks, and incentive design for critical infrastructure systems. He is also an Associate Professor and the John and Dorothy Shea Early Career Chair in Civil Engineering at the University of Southern California, and previously served as a research scientist at MIT's Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems. His work has earned the 2024 IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Society Outstanding Application Award, the Donald P. Eckman Award, and an NSF CAREER award. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UC Santa Barbara.