Dr. Nancy M. Amato, Unocal and Regents Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Texas A&M University, has been honored with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) Distinguished Service Award.
The IEEE RAS Distinguished Service Award was established in 2001 and is presented to an individual who has performed outstanding service for the benefit and advancement of the IEEE RAS. Amato received the award for her innovative leadership on the RAS Electronic Products and Services Board and for her work with the International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) and International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS).
ICRA 2015, for which Amato served as program chair, broke many records and left a lasting impression on attendees. She introduced a number of innovations to the conference, several of which are now included in other symposiums, including IROS and the 2016 Robotics: Science and Systems Conference (RSS).
Amato’s research interests lie in motion planning, computational biology, robotics, computational geometry, animation, parallel and distributed computing, parallel algorithms and performance modeling and optimization. She was named a 2015 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Fellow for her contributions to robotics and leadership in broadening participation in computing. She was also named a 2013 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellow and IEEE Fellow for her contributions to the algorithmic foundations of motion planning, computational biology, computational geometry and parallel computing.
She has served on several committees for various conferences and as senior director of Engineering Honors, is actively involved in building a strong program at Texas A&M.