3/28/2017 Susan Mumm, Media Specialist
Written by Susan Mumm, Media Specialist
Aerospace Engineering Assistant Prof. Grace Gao has been selected for the College of Engineering Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, an honor bestowed on only a handful of the college’s assistant professors each year.
“Professor Gao has established herself as one of the foremost international experts on satellite-based navigation and timing,” according to Philippe Geubelle, AE Department Head. “Building on her expertise in GPS and other GNSS, Professor Gao has expanded her research activities to a wide range of topics including the use of GPS for the security of the infrastructure, and the methods to improve the robustness and reliability of the GPS signal in urban environments.”
Gao and her students have focused on fundamental work in honing reliable and robust positioning, navigation, and timing for GPS. Their research contributes significantly to the ever-growing technologies of unmanned aerial vehicles, power systems, and robotics. She has on-going projects with multiple funding agencies, such as the Air Force Research Lab, NASA, and the U.S. departments of Homeland Security and Energy.
Gao joined the AE Department in 2012. She earned a PhD in electrical engineering in 2008 from Stanford University.
In addition to this latest honor, Gao was named a Center for Advanced Study Fellow earlier this year. Her teaching skills also have been recognized: she gained the local student chapter’s American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Teacher of the Year Award in 2016 and the College of Engineering Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence in 2015.