Tolga Kurtoglu

Tolga specializes in the design, development, theory, and methodology of complex systems and applied intelligence for engineering design automation and optimization. His research spans the areas of development of prognostic and health management technologies, model-based systems engineering, automated reasoning, knowledge and information management, and risk and reliability-based design.

Prior to joining PARC, Tolga led several research projects at NASA Ames Research Center where he developed computational tools for designing, analyzing, and operating complex human-machine systems with the goal of preventing fault events and minimizing their effects throughout system lifecycle. He has also worked as systems engineer lead at Dell Corporation where he managed mechanical development of various high-end server products.

Dr. Kurtoglu received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and M.S. from Carnegie Mellon University -- both in Mechanical Engineering. He has published over 50 peer-reviewed articles and papers in leading journals and conferences in his field, and regularly serves in organizational leadership roles for the ASME, AIAA, AAAI, Design Society, and Prognostics and Health Management Society professional communities. Tolga received the IEEE Best Professional Paper Award at the Prognostics and Health Management Conference (2008), NASA Ames Technical Excellence Award (2009), and Best Design Award in “Dexterous Robot Hand” Design Competition (1999). In his free time, he enjoys spending time outdoors, watching (and playing) soccer, building and flying model planes, black & white photography, and scuba diving.