Vivek Khatana

Vivek Khatana

🗞 New: Session Co-Chair, IEEE ACC 2026 & Papers at IEEE ACC 2026, CDC 2025

About

Bio

Vivek Khatana

I build the mathematical and algorithmic foundations for scalable, resilient, and certifiably safe autonomy — uniting distributed optimization, control theory, and machine learning to tackle real-world challenges in energy systems, robotics, and autonomous mobility.

I am a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Autonomous Vehicles in Air Transportation Engineering (AVIATE) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nevada Reno, working with Profs. Naira Hovakimyan, Petros Voulgaris, and Srinivasa Salapaka.

I received my Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (minor in Mathematics) from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities in 2025, advised by Prof. Murti V. Salapaka. My thesis, Balancing Information Mixing and Optimality: A Framework for Robust and Efficient Distributed Decision-Making, was the first to establish finite-time optimality and feasibility certificates for constrained distributed optimization — closing a longstanding gap in the field. Prior to Minnesota, I received my B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in 2018. I have also held research positions at the National Laboratory of the Rockies (2023) and the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (2017).

I am an active member of the IEEE Control Systems Society, the IEEE Power and Energy Society, and the INFORMS Optimization Society. I am also a Volunteer Member of the National Postdoctoral Association. Outside the lab, I enjoy reading, art shows, sports, hiking, and honing my culinary skills.

Curriculum Vitae

Focus Areas

Research Interests

My research addresses three pressing challenges in the next generation of intelligent infrastructures: how to make scalable decisions across large networks, how to ensure resilience and safety under uncertainty, and how to achieve adaptivity through learning from data. I pursue these through a combination of theoretical foundations, algorithmic innovation, and real-world experimental validation across energy systems, robotics, and autonomous mobility.

⚙️
Distributed Nonconvex Optimization
Finite-time feasible and optimal algorithms for constrained multi-agent systems over directed networks, including difference-of-convex and federated learning formulations
🛡️
Safe & Predictable Autonomy
Distributionally robust stochastic control with Wasserstein ambiguity sets; L1-adaptive architectures for certifiable safety under uncertainty in physical AI systems
Power & Energy Systems
Distributed control and optimization of microgrids and virtual power plants; storage planning and risk pooling for resilient distributed energy resource coordination
🤖
Learning-Enabled Autonomous Systems
Coordination of learning-based and model-based agents for robotics, urban air mobility, and data-driven networked control under limited communication

Scholarly Work

Publications

Full list on Google Scholar ↗
Journal — In Preparation
  • V. Khatana, S. Chakraborty, and M. V. Salapaka, "Distributed control of inverter-interfaced virtual power plants: Design and stability guarantees." To be submitted to IEEE Trans. Smart Grid. In Prep
  • V. Khatana, A. Dey, A. Mani, and M. V. Salapaka, "Risk sharing among microgrids: Connectivity requirements and optimal control." To be submitted to INFORMS Operations Research. In Prep
  • V. Khatana and P. Voulgaris, "Distributed difference of convex machine learning." To be submitted to IEEE Trans. Neural Networks and Learning Systems. In Prep
  • A. Gahlawat, V. Khatana, S. H. Karumanchi, N. Hovakimyan, and P. Voulgaris, "Wasserstein distributionally robust stochastic control with safety guarantees." To be submitted to IEEE Trans. Robotics. In Prep
Journal — Under Review
  • A. Dey, V. Khatana, A. Mani, and M. V. Salapaka, "Optimal multi-microgrid feedback policies: Guaranteed demand fulfillment under renewable uncertainty." Under Review, Automatica. Under Review
2025 — Conference
  • V. Khatana, D. Wang, P. Voulgaris, N. Elia, and N. Hovakimyan, "Networked control and mean field problems under diagonal dominance: Decentralized and social optimality." 2026 IEEE American Control Conference (ACC). Conf
  • A. Gahlawat, V. Khatana, D. Wang, S. H. Karumanchi, N. Hovakimyan, and P. Voulgaris, "Wasserstein distributionally robust adaptive covariance steering." 64th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2025. Conf
2024 — Conference
  • V. Khatana and M. V. Salapaka, "Distributed difference of convex optimization." 60th Annual Allerton Conference, 2024. Conf
  • V. Khatana, C.-Y. Chang, and W. Wang, "Adaptive online model update algorithm for predictive control in networked systems." 60th Annual Allerton Conference, 2024. Conf
  • V. Khatana, S. Chakraborty, and M. V. Salapaka, "A plug and play distributed secondary controller for microgrids with grid-forming inverters." IEEE IECON, 2024. Conf
  • V. Khatana, S. Chakraborty, G. Saraswat, P. Sourav, and M. V. Salapaka, "A distributed malicious agent detection scheme for resilient power apportioning in microgrids." IEEE IECON, 2024. Conf
  • A. Dey, V. Khatana, A. Mani, and M. V. Salapaka, "Guaranteeing service in connected microgrids: Storage planning and optimal power sharing policy." IEEE American Control Conference, 2024. Conf
2023 — Journal
  • V. Khatana and M. V. Salapaka, "Noise resilient distributed average consensus over directed graphs." IEEE Trans. Signal and Information Processing over Networks, vol. 9, pp. 770–785, 2023. Journal doi ↗
  • V. Khatana, G. Saraswat, S. Patel, and M. V. Salapaka, "GradConsensus: Linearly convergent algorithm for reducing disagreement in multi-agent optimization." IEEE Trans. Network Science and Engineering, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 1251–1264, 2023. Journal doi ↗
  • J. Melbourne, G. Saraswat, V. Khatana, S. Patel, and M. V. Salapaka, "Convex decreasing algorithms: Distributed synthesis and finite-time termination in higher dimension." IEEE Trans. Automatic Control, vol. 69, no. 6, pp. 3960–3967, 2023. Journal doi ↗
  • S. Chakraborty, J. Park, G. Saraswat, T. Meyers, J. Wang, S. Tiwari, V. Khatana, et al., "Emergency power supply system for critical infrastructures: Design and large scale hardware demonstration." IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 114509–114526, 2023. Journal doi ↗
2022 — Journal
  • V. Khatana and M. V. Salapaka, "DC-DistADMM: ADMM algorithm for constrained optimization over directed graphs." IEEE Trans. Automatic Control, vol. 68, no. 9, pp. 5365–5380, 2022. Journal doi ↗
  • G. Saraswat, V. Khatana, S. Patel, and M. V. Salapaka, "Distributed finite-time termination for consensus algorithm in switching topologies." IEEE Trans. Network Science and Engineering, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 489–499, 2022. Journal doi ↗
2022 — Conference
  • V. Khatana, S. Chakraborty, G. Saraswat, B. Lundstrom, and M. V. Salapaka, "Evaluation of horizon of viability optimization engine for sustained power to critical infrastructure." IEEE Power and Energy Conference at Illinois (PECI), 2022, pp. 1–8. Conf
  • J. Wang, S. Chakraborty, V. Khatana, B. Lundstrom, G. Saraswat, and M. Salapaka, "Evaluation of optimal net load management in microgrids using hardware-in-the-loop simulation." IEEE Power & Energy Society ISGT, 2022, pp. 1–5. Conf doi ↗
2020 — Conference
  • V. Khatana and M. V. Salapaka, "D-DistADMM: A O(1/k) distributed ADMM for distributed optimization in directed graph topologies." 59th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2020, pp. 2992–2997. Conf doi ↗
  • V. Khatana, G. Saraswat, S. Patel, and M. V. Salapaka, "Gradient-consensus method for distributed optimization in directed multi-agent networks." IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), 2020, pp. 4689–4694. Conf doi ↗
  • S. Patel, V. Khatana, G. Saraswat, and M. V. Salapaka, "Distributed detection of malicious attacks on consensus algorithms with applications in power networks." 7th International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies (CoDIT), 2020, vol. 1, pp. 397–402. Conf doi ↗
  • J. Melbourne, G. Saraswat, V. Khatana, S. Patel, and M. V. Salapaka, "On the geometry of consensus algorithms with application to distributed termination in higher dimension." IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 2951–2956, 21st IFAC World Congress, 2020. Conf doi ↗
Preprints & arXiv
  • A. Dey, V. Khatana, A. Mani, and M. V. Salapaka, "Transactive framework for dynamic energy storage allocation for critical load management." arXiv arXiv:2101.05890 ↗
  • A. Dey, V. Khatana, A. Mani, and M. V. Salapaka, "On mitigating the uncertainty in renewable generation in distribution microgrids." arXiv arXiv:2007.08641 ↗

Talks & Outreach

Media

Selected invited talks, conference presentations, and outreach. For a complete list see my Google Scholar profile.

Materials & Tools

Resources

Talks & Slides
  • 📄
    Networked Control and Mean Field Problems under Diagonal Dominance
    2026 IEEE American Control Conference (ACC) — Session co-chair talk on decentralized and social optimality
    2026
  • 📄
    Architectures for Resilient, Safe and Predictable Autonomy
    Lightning talk & poster · 12th Midwest Workshop on Control and Game Theory · 2026
    2026
  • 📄
    Wasserstein Distributionally Robust Adaptive Covariance Steering
    64th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC), 2025
    2025
  • 📄
    Distributed Difference of Convex Optimization
    60th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, 2024
    2024
  • 📄
    Adaptive Online Model Update Algorithm for Predictive Control in Networked Systems
    60th Annual Allerton Conference, 2024
    2024
  • 📄
    Data-Enabled Decision-Making in Energy Systems and Markets
    INFORMS Annual Meeting, Invited Session, Seattle · Oct 2024
    2024
  • 📄
    Distributed Training of Machine Learning Models — Lightning Talk
    Midwest Machine Learning Symposium, 2024
    2024
  • 📄
    Algorithms for Agreement and Optimality in Networked Dynamical Systems
    10th Midwest Workshop on Control and Game Theory, Lightning Talk, 2024
    2024
  • 📄
    Distributed Decision-Making in Networked Systems — IIT Roorkee Seminar Slides
    Guest Seminar, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, IIT Roorkee · Feb 2024
    2024
  • 📄
    Evaluation of Horizon of Viability Optimization Engine for Sustained Power to Critical Infrastructure
    IEEE Power and Energy Conference at Illinois (PECI), 2022
    2022
  • 📄
    D-DistADMM & Gradient-Consensus for Distributed Optimization
    IEEE Conference on Decision and Control (CDC) & IEEE American Control Conference (ACC), 2020
    2020
Open-Source Software
  • 💻
    Implementation of Distributed Directed ADMM for constrained optimization over directed graphs (IEEE TAC 2022)
    Code
  • 💻
    Every-iterate feasible distributed optimization algorithm — linearly convergent gradient-consensus (IEEE TNSE 2023)
    Code
  • 💻
    First noise-resilient distributed consensus algorithm over directed communication networks (IEEE TSIPN 2023)
    Code
  • 💻
    Integer optimization-based cost-optimal generation and load dispatch for sustained power delivery to critical infrastructure (DOE project)
    Code
  • 💻
    Distributed optimization engines for real-time coordination of distributed energy resources in virtual power plant architectures
    Code
  • 💻
    LLM-based path planning for shared autonomy in mission-critical scenarios (developed at UIUC, co-developed with Zijian Song)
    Code

Updates

News

Academic Service

Teaching

I am deeply committed to student success and creating inclusive, intellectually stimulating learning environments. My teaching philosophy centers on developing critical thinkers who understand the real-world impact of their engineering work. To me, effective teaching goes beyond simply delivering content — it’s about fostering curiosity, clarity, and confidence. I currently mentor graduate and undergraduate students at UIUC in robotics, AI-enabled safe control, and energy systems.

University of Minnesota Twin Cities — Instructor of Record

  • EE 4235Linear Control Systems Laboratory · Fall 2019, 2021, 2023, 2024
  • EE 4237State Space Control Laboratory · Spring 2020, 2022
  • EE 4163Energy Conversion and Storage Laboratory · Spring 2023
  • EE 2361Introduction to Microcontrollers Laboratory · Spring 2021, Fall 2022

Mentoring

  • UIUCCurrently mentoring Ph.D. and undergraduate students in robotics, generative AI, and energy systems (2025–present)
  • UMNGraduate Student Mentorship Program, ECE Dept. (2023)
  • IIT RoorkeeStudent Mentorship Program, undergraduate research mentoring (2016–2018)

🏆 Teaching Assistant Award — jointly selected by students and faculty, ECE Dept., University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 2021.

Selected student feedback: "Vivek would ask us questions throughout the lab, making sure we were doing more than just following a recipe." · "He gave a lot of background knowledge regarding how things would behave in reality rather than mathematically." · "If it weren't for having such a great TA this lab would have been a nightmare. Instead, I learned a ton."