USL is currently directed by Dr. Yongcan Cao, who is currently a Professor and Department Chair in the Department of Electrical Engineering. Dr. Cao's primary research focuses on robotics, autonomy, artificial intelligence, multi-agent systems, and human-robot interaction. He currently serves as the Chair of the IEEE Technical Committee on Manufacturing Automation and Robotic Control, Executive Member of IoT Technical Community  Steering Committee and IoT Magazine Management Committee, an Associate Editor for Automatica and IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, and has served as a Guest Senior Editor for IEEE Control Systems Letters, an Editorial Board Member for IEEE Control Systems Society and IEEE Robotics and Automation Society. Dr. Cao is a recipient of Mary  Lou Clarke Endowed Distinguished Professorship, Microsoft President’s Endowed Fellow, Advancing Next-Gen Faculty Leadership Fellow, Margie and Bill Klesse Faculty Fellow, President's Distinguished Achievement Award in Research Achievement, College of Engineering Excellence in Teaching Award and Service Award, AFOSR Summer Faculty Fellow, and National Research Council Research Associateship Award at AFRL. Dr. Cao is an Associate Fellow of AIAA.