Nancy Marie Amato

Nancy Marie Amato is the Director and Abel Bliss Professor at the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, University of Illinois. She also holds professorships in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Coordinated Science Lab, National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), Health Care Engineering Systems Center, and the Center for Digital Agriculture. Additionally, she is an affiliate member at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology.

Her research interests center on Motion Planning and Robotics, particularly advancing methodologies like the Probabilistic Roadmap Method and hybrid multi-robot coordination. She explores applications in healthcare engineering, digital agriculture, and scalable solutions for complex robotic systems. Her work bridges theoretical algorithms with practical implementations, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration.

Amato has been recognized with prestigious awards:

• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2024)
• IEEE Fellow (2010)
• IEEE RAS George Saridis Leadership Award in Robotics and Automation (2019)

Her grants include leadership in AI research to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic, as highlighted in press coverage (2020). She has advised numerous students and collaborates across labs such as the Coordinated Science Lab and NCSA, contributing to cutting-edge projects in autonomous systems and supercomputing applications.

Amato is affiliated with multiple interdisciplinary teams and centers, including the Health Care Engineering Systems Center and the Center for Digital Agriculture, reflecting her commitment to translational research.