We are honored to announce that Prof. Naira Hovakimyan presented in the Autonomy Talks seminar series, hosted by Prof. Gioele Zardini’s group, on October 14, 2025. Autonomy Talks is a longstanding, open-access forum launched in 2020 to foster cross-group dialogue and idea exchange among researchers working on autonomy innovations. To date, it has featured over […]

We are proud to share that Prof. Naira Hovakimyan has been elected as a Fellow of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC) — one of the most prestigious honors in the field of control theory and systems engineering. The official citation reads: For contributions to robust adaptive control, safe learning in autonomous systems, and […]

In late May, the AVIATE Center hosted a two-day Autonomy Fest as part of our ongoing NASA University Leadership Initiative (ULI) project on robust and resilient autonomy. The event brought together partner institutions, students, and industry collaborators to demonstrate integrated autonomy technologies and real-world flight tests — including the tech transfer of the L1 adaptive […]

On May 28–29, members of the ACRL lab, alongside collaborators from multiple labs and institutions, participated in a major demonstration event for NASA’s University Leadership Initiative (ULI). The two-day event featured technical presentations, interactive poster sessions, and live field tests showcasing the progress of ongoing ULI-supported research, including work led by the AVIATE Center at […]

Congratulations to Prof. Naira Hovakimyan on receiving the 2025 College Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring! A well-deserved recognition of her exceptional guidance and dedication to her students. More details can be found here: https://grainger.illinois.edu/research/faculty-awards#year=2025

Congratulations to Chuyuan! He defended his Ph.D. final exam successfully!

Professor Naira Hovakimyan recently visited the Campus Middle School for Girls to guide students in designing and building their own drones. Under her mentorship and with the support of MechSE outreach staff and graduate researchers, the students learned CAD modeling, 3D printing, and the fundamentals of drone assembly. This outreach project, supported by the NASA […]

Our team had an engaging experience at the AIAA SciTech Forum, discussing our latest research with peers and exploring new ideas in safe advanced air mobility. The insightful feedback and thought-provoking conversations will shape our ongoing work. We’re excited to continue these collaborations and push our research forward!

Professor Naira Hovakimyan gave a presentation to GoAero seminar series on safe learning in autonomous systems. The presentation can be watched at the link: GoAERO Expert Lecture Series on YouTube.

Professor Naira Hovakimyan was one of the keynote speakers earlier this month at IROS 2024, one of the largest and most important robotics research conferences in the world. Held this year in Abu Dhabi at the largest exhibition venue in the Middle East, IROS attracts researchers, academics and industry professionals from around the globe. Hovakimyan is the […]