Daniela Rus, from MIT, Honorary Professor at UPT

Daniela Rus, from MIT, Honorary Professor at UPT

The Senate of Politehnica University Timișoara awarded on Wednesday, November 18, 2020, the title of Honorary Professor of UPT to the director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT - Prof. Daniela Rus. The award ceremony took place online, during the 18th edition of the Together Online webinars, and was held in the presence of UPT management, members of the UPT Senate and Board of Directors, and over 400 participants from Romania, Europe, and the USA.

The handing over of the title of Honorary Professor of Politehnica University Timișoara was virtually officiated by the President of the UPT Senate, Prof. Eng. Radu Vasiu, Ph.D., in the presence of the Rector of UPT - Assoc. Prof. Eng. Florin Dragan, Ph.D.

Details about the webinar and its recording are available at https://elearning.upt.ro/ro/comunitate/webinar-impreunaonline-inteligenta-artificiala-si-impactul-in-societate-cu-prof-daniela-rus-mit/

Daniela L. Rus is director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), research vice dean at the Schwartzman College of Computer Science, and professor "Andrew and Erna Viterbi" in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was born in Romania in 1963 and in 1982 she emigrated with her family to the United States. In 1993, Rus received her doctorate from Cornell University and began her university career as an assistant, then as an associate professor, and eventually as a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Dartmouth College, before moving to MIT. Rus brings in-depth expertise in robotics, artificial intelligence, data science, and computing. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineering), and the ACM (Association for Computing Machines). She is also the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Science Foundation Career Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship. Since April 2020, she has been a member of the Advisory Council for Science and Technology within the Presidential Administration of the White House.

The webinar also benefited from a practical session in which Prof. Daniela Rus urged young people to pursue a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and presented to the audience the latest research papers in the field of artificial intelligence, machine learning and intelligent robots, advancing a series of futuristic visions through which the robots of the future could improve daily life, with an impact in areas such as navigation, industry, medicine or daily domestic activities.