BIOGRAPHY

Lydia E. Kavraki (MS’92, PhD’95) is the Kenneth and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing and the director of the Ken Kennedy Institute at Rice University. Kavraki received her B.A. from the University of Crete, Greece, and her Ph.D. from Stanford University. Her research develops algorithms for motion planning, integrated frameworks for learning and reasoning under uncertainty, and ways to collaborate with robots. She pioneered the development of sampling-based planners. She is a co-author of “Principles of Robot Motion” (MIT Press) and a co-developer of the Open Motion Planning Library (OMPL), an open-source library of motion planning algorithms. Kavraki is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Science, National Academy of Medicine, a recipient of the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, the ACM Athena Lecturer Award, the ACM-AAAS Allen Newell Award, the IEEE RAS Pioneer Award, and a Fellow of ACM, IEEE, AAAS, AAAI, and AIMBE.

IEEE ACTIVITIES

COMMITTEES/BOARDS:

• Distinguished Lecturer, Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, Motion Planning Section, 2025-2027
• RAS AdCom, 2022-2025
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society AdCom, 2023-present. Member of the Financial Board and the Long-Range Planning Committee
• Nominating Committee, IEEE Frances E. Allen Medal, 2024-present
• Nominating Committee for IEEE RAS Pioneer Award, 2020-2021
• Steering Committee, Robotics and Automation Letters, IEEE RAS, 2015-present
• IEEE Computer Science Fellows Evaluation Committee, 2017-2018 and 2020-2024
• Member, IEEE Awards Board, IEEE Committee for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Award, 2020-2021
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Technical Committee for Algorithms for Planning and Control of Robot Motion, 2006-present
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Technical Committee for Manipulation, 2008-present
• Nominating Committee for IEEE RAS Pioneer Award, 2018-2019
• Elected Member, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) AdCom, 2015-2017
• AdCom Representative to the Members Activities Board, IEEE RAS, 2015-2017
• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Fellows Selection Committee, 2012-2013, 2015-2017
• Early Career Award Committee, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, 2012-2014
• Member, Best Student Paper Awards Committee, IEEE ICRA 2010
• Technical Activities Board, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, 2001-2003
• Elected Member, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) AdCom, 2000-2003

REGIONS:

SECTIONS/CHAPTERS

STUDENT BRANCHES:

SOCIETY:

• IEEE Robotics and Automation Society

CONFERENCES:

• Senior Program Committee, 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Atlanta, USA
• Senior Program Committee, 2023 International Conference on Robotics and Automation, London, UK
• Best Conference Paper Award Committee, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), 2020
• Program Co-Chair, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Vancouver, Canada, 2017
• Awards Chair, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2015
• Best Paper Award Committee, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2012-2014
• Workshops chair
• Tutorial Organizer, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2013
• Tutorial Organizer, IEEE/RJS International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2011
• Co-Chair, 11th IEEE International Conference on Bioinformatics and Bioengineering, October 24-26, 2011
• Workshop Organizer, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2008
• Workshop Organizer, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2007
• Workshop Organizer, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2000
• Program Committee in several IEEE ICRA conferences 1999- 2005 and several IEEE IROS conferences 1997-2001, IEEE International Symposium on Assembly and Task Planning 2003, ASE/IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Computing 2012-2013 and other

OTHER:

• Invited plenary speaker, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2020
• Invited keynote speaker, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2018
• Invited plenary speaker, IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer Aided Design, 2015
• Invited keynote speaker, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, 2014
• Distinguished Lecturer, IEEE RAS, Several Lectures, 2008-2011
• Associate Editor, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, 2004-
• Associate Editor, IEEE Robotics Magazine, IEEE Press, 2003-2005
• Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Robotics and Automation, 1999-2002

QUALIFICATIONS

I have been following the activities and growth of IEEE RAS for many years. Through my service at conferences, journals, selection committees for awards, nomination and selection of fellows, nomination and selection of other prestigious awards of the society, I have tried to promote robotics and robotics researchers to the best of my abilities. Outside RAS, I have extensive administrative experience serving at department-level and university-wide committees at Rice, including promotion and tenure for the entire university, and recruitment of top-level administrators, including at the dean and provost level. I am currently the director of an Institute at Rice dedicated to promoting AI, Data, and Computing. At the same time, I have been engaged with students and student organizations throughout my career, and I am passionate about empowering people to reach their full professional potential and recognizing their contributions. I think my previous experiences inside and outside RAS will serve me well for my role as a member of the AdCom.

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

As part of the AdCom in the past, I have been involved with MAB and TAB, Finance and Long-Range Planning Committees. As co-chair and program committee member of several conferences, I strived to improve the quality of the conferences and enhance the program offered to participants. As part of selection committees for awards at various levels (from best paper awards to the selection of our most prestigious awards), I have tried to identify the best representatives of our profession and promote excellence. As an advisor to several young people in the field, I am striving to inspire, promote accountability and transparency.

POSITION STATEMENT

If elected, I will work along the following directions:

(Robot Ethics) Promote ethics awareness for robotics and AI technology, and contribute to workshops and symposia to educate the members of RAS on the responsible uses of the technology that we create.

(Conferences and Publications) Contribute to the further improvement of the society’s publications and conferences, including efforts to set guidelines for robust experimentation, fair analysis, and reproducibility of results.

(Emerging Applications and Human-Centered Robotics) Promote emerging applications of robotics and foster connections with relevant disciplines. Support the application of robotics in education and healthcare, always putting the human first.