Lydia E. Kavraki () is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

- American

computer scientist A computer scientist is a scientist who specializes in the academic study of computer science. Computer scientists typically work on the theoretical side of computation. Although computer scientists can also focus their work and research on ...

, the Noah Harding Professor of Computer Science, a professor of bioengineering, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

. She is also the director of the Ken Kennedy Institute at

. She is known for her work on

robotics Robotics is the interdisciplinary study and practice of the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. Within mechanical engineering, robotics is the design and construction of the physical structures of robots, while in computer s ...

/ AI and

bioinformatics Bioinformatics () is an interdisciplinary field of science that develops methods and Bioinformatics software, software tools for understanding biological data, especially when the data sets are large and complex. Bioinformatics uses biology, ...

computational biology Computational biology refers to the use of techniques in computer science, data analysis, mathematical modeling and Computer simulation, computational simulations to understand biological systems and relationships. An intersection of computer sci ...

and in particular for the probabilistic roadmap method for robot motion planning and biomolecular configuration analysis.Short Biographical Sketch of Lydia E. Kavraki
Rice University, retrieved 2019-11-1.

Biography

Kavraki was born in

Heraklion Heraklion or Herakleion ( ; , , ), sometimes Iraklion, is the largest city and the administrative capital city, capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion (regional unit), Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in G ...

and did her undergraduate studies at the

University of Crete The University of Crete (UoC; Greek: Πανεπιστήμιο Κρήτης) is a multi-disciplinary, research-oriented institution in Crete, Greece, located in the cities of Rethymno (official seat) and Heraklion. There are 16 main undergraduate ...

. She then moved to

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

for her graduate studies, earning a Ph.D. in 1995 under the supervision of Jean-Claude Latombe.

Awards and honors

In 2000, Kavraki won the

Grace Murray Hopper Award The Grace Murray Hopper Award (named for computer pioneer RADM Grace Hopper) has been awarded by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) since 1971. The award goes to a computer professional who makes a single, significant technical or serv ...

for her work on probabilistic roadmaps. In 2002, ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'' magazine listed her in their "Brilliant 10" awards, and in the same year ''

MIT Technology Review ''MIT Technology Review'' is a bimonthly magazine wholly owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in 1899 as ''The Technology Review'', and was re-launched without "''The''" in its name on April 23, 1998, under then pu ...

'' listed her in their annual list of 35 innovators under the age of 35. In 2010, she was elected as a Fellow of the

Association for Computing Machinery The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) is a US-based international learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 and is the world's largest scientific and educational computing society. The ACM is a non-profit professional membe ...

"for contributions to robotic motion planning and its application to computational biology." She is also a fellow of the

Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence The Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) is an international Learned society, scientific society devoted to promote research in, and responsible use of, artificial intelligence. AAAI also aims to increase public under ...

, a fellow of

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

, a fellow of AIMBE and a fellow of the

American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

. In 2015, she was the winner of the ABIE Award for Technical Leadership from the Anita Borg Institute. In 2017, Kavraki was honored with the ACM Athena Lecturer award from the

, which celebrates women researchers who have made fundamental contributions to the field of Computer Science. In 2020, she was awarded the ACM IEEE Allen Newell Award. In 2025, she was has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering. Kavraki is a member of the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

(formerly Institute of Medicine (IoM)), the Academy of Athens, the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST), the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

, the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

, and the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kavraki, Lydia E. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Greek computer scientists Greek emigrants to the United States American computer scientists American women computer scientists Greek women computer scientists University of Crete alumni Stanford University alumni Rice University faculty Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence 2010 fellows of the Association for Computing Machinery Members of Academia Europaea Researchers in geometric algorithms Women systems scientists Scientists from Heraklion American women academics 21st-century American women Members of the National Academy of Medicine Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences