João Tasso de Figueiredo Borges de Sousa is a Professor at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department from Porto University in Portugal. He holds a PhD and an MSc in Electrical Engineering, both awarded by the University of Porto. His research interests include autonomous underwater, surface and air vehicles, planning and execution control for networked vehicle systems, optimization and control, cyber-physical systems, and applications of networked vehicle systems to the ocean sciences, security and defence. In 2002 he was awarded the Luso-American Foundation Fellowship by the Portuguese Studies Program from the University of California at Berkeley. In 2008 he received an outstanding teaching award from Porto University.

He is the head of the Laboratório de Sistemas e Tecnologias Subaquáticas – LSTS (Underwater Systems and Technologies Laboratory). The LSTS has pioneered the design, construction and deployment of networked underwater, surface and air vehicles for applications in ocean sciences, security and defence. Major accomplishments include the design of the award-winning Light Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (LSTS) and of the LSTS open source software tool chain for networked vehicle systems, as well as the organization of large scale experiments at sea, including the annual Rapid Environmental Picture exercise organized in cooperation with the Portuguese Navy since 2010 and with the Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation since 2014. The LSTS received the Arca second Prize for the best technological realizations Respectful to Environment in 2003 and the national BES Innovation National Award for the design of the Light Autonomous Underwater Vehicle in 2006.