Josie Hughes receives IEEE RAS Early Academic Career Award
Josie Hughes, at right, receiving her award on May 16 © Josie Hughes
Josie Hughes, head of the Computational Robot Design and Fabrication Lab in the School of Engineering, has received the 2024 Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation from the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Robotics and Automation Society (IEEE RAS) Early Academic Career Award in Robotics and Automation aims to recognize scientists who have made “an identifiable contribution or contributions which have had a major impact on the robotics and/or automation fields.” Hughes was selected as the 2024 recipient for “fundamental contributions to soft robot design and embodied intelligence”.
Hughes joined EPFL as a tenure-track assistant professor in 2021 at just 29 years old, making her one of the youngest researchers to do so. She leads the CREATE Lab, which aims to develop new fabrication and computational design tools for robots with new and exciting applications, such as human-like intelligent environmental interactions, and large-scale physical experimentation to understand complex phenomena.
She received the prestigious honor, which includes $1,000 with a plaque and certificate, at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Yokohama, Japan on May 16th.