Maruthi Akella is a professor with the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics at The University of Texas at Austin where he holds the Cockrell Family Endowed Chair in Engineering. He is the founding director for the Center for Autonomous Air Mobility and the faculty lead coordinator for the controls, autonomy, and robotics area at UT Austin.

Akella's research program encompasses control theoretic investigations of nonlinear and coordinated systems, astrodynamics, vision-based sensing, and space robotics applications. He published more than 220 papers in peer-reviewed archival journals and professional conferences. His technical contributions received recognition through the AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award, the AAS Dirk Brouwer Award, the IEEE-CSS Award for Excellence in Aerospace Control, and the Judith A. Resnik Space Award from the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society. He is Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of the Astronautical Sciences, a member of the AIAA GNC Technical Committee, and serves on the editorial board of the AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics. Akella is a Fellow of the AIAA, IEEE, and AAS, and he holds the Academician rank with the International Academy of Astronautics.