The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has announced the list of newly elected Fellows for 2026. Professor Zhang Haitao, Chinese Supervisor of ICARE, was elected as a 2026 IEEE Fellow for his pioneering contributions to the theory and industrial applications of cooperative control for marine autonomous intelligent unmanned craft swarms.
Professor Zhang is the Vice Dean of the School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, a Level-2 Professor, doctoral supervisor, and Chinese Supervisor of ICARE. He is a recipient of special government allowances from the State Council, Director of the Engineering Research Center of Autonomous Intelligent Unmanned Systems (Ministry of Education), and Chief Scientist of the National Science and Technology Innovation 2030 – Major Project for New Generation Artificial Intelligence.
Professor Zhang earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from the University of Science and Technology of China from 1995 to 2005. He conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge in 2007 and became a full professor in 2010. His main research areas include swarm intelligence and the cooperative control of marine unmanned craft swarms.
He has led major national research projects, including the National Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Major Project and two Joint Key Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published more than 110 papers in leading journals such as Nature Machine Intelligence, Nature Communications, National Science Review, Automatica, and several IEEE Transactions. He is the author of two English monographs published by Springer, and his theoretical research has been featured in Nature Physics as research breakthroughs.
Professor Zhang holds over 40 authorized invention patents, six of which have been industrialized, and has helped formulate one national standard. His research results have been implemented by companies such as China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation (CSIC) and Guangzhou Shipyard International Co., Ltd. (GSI), supporting major marine projects in the Greater Bay Area, offshore wind farms, and oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea. These accomplishments have been reported on the official websites of the State Council and the Ministry of National Defense.
He has received two First-Class Hubei Provincial Natural Science Awards and one First-Class Guangdong Provincial Technological Invention Award, ranking first in each. Professor Zhang serves on editorial boards for several international journals, including IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems, Engineering, and Unmanned Systems.
IEEE is the world’s largest professional technical organization, with over 409,000 members in more than 160 countries across fields like electrical engineering, electronics, and computer science. The title of IEEE Fellow is its highest membership grade, awarded each year to no more than 0.1% of members through a rigorous review process.
After Professor Luo Xiaobing, Chinese Dean of ICARE, was elected as an IEEE Fellow in 2018, several other Chinese ICARE supervisors have received this distinguished honor.
