Andrei Shkel Recognized as UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor
May 13, 2025 - Andrei Shkel has been named a UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor in recognition of his extraordinary scholarly achievements and exceptional value to the university. Shkel is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and associate dean for research and innovation for the Samueli School of Engineering.
Shkel’s research efforts involve high performance inertial sensors, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), and self-contained navigation systems. He is a global expert leading the development of microchip-scale gyroscopes, inertial measurement units and self-contained aid technologies for pedestrian navigation. He has published over 300 papers and three books and has 44 U.S. patents.
He was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service in 2013 for his contribution to defense technology. At the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) from 2009 to 2013, he led a national campaign overseeing 300 researchers from 20 companies, 16 universities, six national labs and seven governmental organizations in making microchip-scale gyroscopes.
Shkel has sat on a number of editorial boards and currently serves as the editor-in-chief of IEEE Sensors Letters Journal. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors and IEEE and is a past president of the IEEE Sensors Council. He also received the John Vig Meritorious Service Award from the IEEE Sensors Council in 2023. Shkel was named the Samueli School of Engineering Innovator of the Year in 2020. He and a former graduate student won the 2024 Wiley-IEEE Press Professional Book Award for their book “Pedestrian Inertial Navigation with Self-Contained Aiding.”
Shkel says he is honored and deeply appreciative of the recognition. “I am grateful for the support and encouragement I have received from UCI and colleagues throughout my career,” said Shkel. “Most of all, I am indebted to the many generations of super-talented and innovative graduate students with whom I have had the privilege to work.”
With the addition of Shkel, the Samueli School now has 10 Chancellor’s Professors: Amir AghaKouchak, Stephen Ritchie and Brett Sanders, civil and environmental engineering; Plamen Atanassov, chemical and biomolecular engineering; Payam Heydari, Syed Jafar and Hamid Jafarkhani, electrical engineering and computer science; Abe Lee, biomedical engineering; and Dimitri Papamoschou, mechanical and aerospace engineering.
– Lori Brandt
