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Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Grace Gao
Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and, by courtesy, of Electrical Engineering
Grace Gao is an assistant professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. She leads the Navigation and Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory (NAV Lab). Before joining Stanford University, she was faculty at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She obtained her Ph.D. degree at Stanford University. Her research is on robust and secure perception, localization and navigation with applications to manned and unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous driving cars, as well as space robotics.
Prof. Gao has won a number of awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, the Institute of Navigation Early Achievement Award and the RTCA William E. Jackson Award. She received the Inspiring Early Academic Career Award by Stanford University, and Distinguished Promotion Award from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has won Best Paper/Presentation of the Session Awards 29 times at Institute of Navigation conferences over the span of 17 years. She received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research from the College of Engineering, University of Illinois. For her teaching and advising, Prof. Gao has been on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students at University of Illinois multiple times. She won the College of Engineering Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence, the Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising, and AIAA Illinois Chapter’s Teacher of the Year. Prof. Gao also received AIAA Stanford Chapter Advisor of the Year Award in 2022; Teacher of the Year Award in 2023.
Prof. Gao has won a number of awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, the Institute of Navigation Early Achievement Award and the RTCA William E. Jackson Award. She received the Inspiring Early Academic Career Award by Stanford University, and Distinguished Promotion Award from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has won Best Paper/Presentation of the Session Awards 29 times at Institute of Navigation conferences over the span of 17 years. She received the Dean's Award for Excellence in Research from the College of Engineering, University of Illinois. For her teaching and advising, Prof. Gao has been on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students at University of Illinois multiple times. She won the College of Engineering Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence, the Engineering Council Award for Excellence in Advising, and AIAA Illinois Chapter’s Teacher of the Year. Prof. Gao also received AIAA Stanford Chapter Advisor of the Year Award in 2022; Teacher of the Year Award in 2023.
Education
Ph.D., Stanford University