Winner. Rector of the Year 2021

Alexander Shestakov

Academic title, degree: Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor
Position: Rector
Institution: Federal State Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education “South Ural State University (National Research University)”
Country: Russian Federation

Alexander Shestakov was born on June 22, 1952 in Chelyabinsk.

In 1975, he graduated from the Faculty of Instrument Design of Chelyabinsk Polytechnic Institute with the major in ‘Automatic Control Systems’ with honours.

In 1975, he worked at the Department of Automatic Control Systems as a trainee tutor and lecturer, later – as a junior researcher.

In 1981, he finished postgraduate studies at the Department of Automatic Control Systems prior to the scheduled date.

Since 1983 he had been an assistant and since 1984 – an Associate Professor of the Department of Informational and Measuring Equipment.

In 1993, he defended his doctoral thesis on the problem of information processing in the ground test and measurement systems for products of rocket and space engineering. An academic degree of a Doctor of Engineering Sciences was awarded.

In 1994, he was elected Head of the Department of Informational and Measuring Equipment.

Since 1996 he had been performing his duties as the Dean of the Faculty of Instrument Design.

In 1999, he was appointed Vice-Rector for scientific work of SUSU.

Since 2005 he has been performing his duties as the Rector of SUSU.

Since 2008 he has been acting as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Chelyabinsk region.

In 2012, he was elected Chairman of the Council of Rectors of the Ural Federal District.

On March 30, 2018, the Rector of SUSU was awarded the title of Honorary Professor of the Tajik Technical University named after M. Osimi (Tajikistan) for special services in the preparation of highly qualified scientific and scientific-pedagogical personnel.

On March 1, 2020, SUSU Rector Alexander Leonidovich Shestakov became an Honorary Professor at Osh State University (Kyrgyzstan).

Prof. Shestakov is an Honored Worker of Higher Education of the Russian Federation. He was awarded the Medal of Legislative Assembly of Chelyabinsk Oblast «For merit in legislative activity» and the Order «For Merit to the Fatherland» II class, as well as medals of Academicians V.P. Makeyev, N.A. Pilyugin, and N.A. Semikhatov.

Professor Alexander Shestakov supervised 10 PhD students and 3 doctoral students in Technical Sciences. He is the author of more than 170 scientific papers including 1 monograph, 5 teaching manuals, 5 authorship certificates, 7 patents in the field of automatic control systems and information measurement systems, and ground-based test measurement missile systems.

Professor Shestakov is the Head of SUSU Development Program. Thanks to the Program, the University was awarded the title National Research University. In 2011, SUSU and its partners (Program Systems Institute of RAS and RSC Group) created «SKIF-Aurora SUSU», the computer took the 87th place in TOP500 (2011).

For over 10 years SUSU has been a strategic partner of Emerson, and as the result of such cooperation, Global Engineering Emerson Center was opened.

The University successfully conducts research in cooperation with Russian enterprises in the defense industry. SUSU is involved in major R&D projects on the new technology and its production for the Ural Region.

In 2005, Prof. Shestakov initiated the creation of the Inter-regional Council on Science and Technology.

Prof. Shestakov is the Chief-Editor of SUSU Bulletin, one of the leading peer-reviewed journals. The Mathematical Simulation and Programming journal series is indexed by SCOPUS and Web of Science.

In 2015, under Prof Shestakov’s guidance, SUSU became a participant in Project 5-100. Now, the University is developing in line with the Academic Excellence Program.