Silvia Ferrari

Silvia Ferrari is the John Brancaccio Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University, leading the Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Controls (LISC) in Ithaca and co-directing the Cornell-Unibo Věho Institute on Vehicle Intelligence at Cornell Tech. She holds academic affiliations with both Cornell Engineering and Cornell Tech, focusing on interdisciplinary research in autonomy, robotics, and intelligent systems.

Education:

• B.S., Aerospace Engineering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (1997)
• M.A. and Ph.D., Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University (1999–2002)

Research Interests: Her work spans computational intelligence, sensorimotor learning, adaptive control, and robotic autonomy. Key areas include active perception, neural network modeling, distributed sensor networks, and decision-making under uncertainty. She has pioneered methods in information-driven path planning and reinforcement learning, with applications to robotics, neuroscience, and environmental monitoring.

Awards:

• Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2006)
• NSF CAREER Award (2005)
• ONR Young Investigator Award (2004)
• Fellow of ASME and AIAA (2020)

Labs & Leadership: As Director of LISC and co-Director of the Věho Institute, she fosters cross-campus collaborations in autonomy and urban technology. Her recent initiatives include organizing the Autonomy and Mobility Workshop, advancing Cornell’s ‘One Cornell’ research strategy.