Alumnus Peter Wurman named IEEE Fellow

CSE alum Peter Wurman (MSE ME ’88, MS CSE ’96, PhD CSE ’99) was elevated to IEEE Fellow, class of 2022, “for contributions to computational auction, multiagent systems and robotics.”

Wurman is best known for his work as a technical co-founder of Kiva Systems, the Boston-based company that pioneered the use of mobile robotics in warehouses and distribution facilities. Wurman joined Kiva in 2004 with Raff D’Andrea to help founder Mick Mountz bring his vision to life. As CTO, he was responsible for the system architecture and decision-making algorithms. In May of 2012, Kiva was acquired by Amazon.com, and has subsequently deployed more than 250,000 robots to Amazon warehouses. In 2020, Mountz, D’Andrea and Wurman were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for their work on Kiva.

Prior to joining Kiva, Pete was an Associate Professor of Computer Science at North Carolina State University.  Pete’s teaching focus was e-commerce systems, and his research focused on electronic auctions (especially combinatorial auctions), multi-agent systems, and resource allocation.

Named on more than 60 U.S. patents, Wurman earned the 2008 IEEE/IFR Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award and is currently director of Sony AI America.

About IEEE Fellows:

IEEE is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest.