Lydia Kavraki (Ph.D. ’95, Stanford) is the Noah Harding Professor of Computer Science, professor of bioengineering, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering at Rice University.
She was elected as a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Athens, the premier scientific society in Greece and the world’s oldest academy. She is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine, as well as an ACM Fellow, IEEE Fellow, and Sloan Fellow.
She is known for her work in bioinformatics and has been a leader in the development of motion planning algorithms. Her team is also working with the NASA Johnson Space in Houston to augment the capabilities of robots for space missions.
She has served as the faculty sponsor for CSters, the club supporting women interested in Computer Science at Rice, since is inception, and she has been recognized as a leader in her field with prizes like the ACM Grace Hopper Murray Award and the Anita Borg ABIE Technical Leadership Award.