Naira Hovakimyan

Naira Hovakimyan
Born(1966-09-21)September 21, 1966
NationalityArmenian
CitizenshipArmenian American
Alma materYerevan State University, Yerevan
Known for
  • L1 adaptive control
  • Neural Network based adaptive control
  • Transition of robust adaptive controls to aerospace applications
  • Cooperative control of autonomous systems
  • Differential games on manifolds
  • Application of robotics to elderly care
Awards
  • AIAA Pendray Aerospace Literature Award(2019)
  • ASME Fellow(2023)
  • IEEE Fellow(2018)
  • AIAA Fellow(2017)
  • CSS Award for Technical Excellence in Aerospace Control(2017)
  • Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award (2015)
  • Humboldt prize for lifetime achievements, Alexander von Humboldt foundation, Germany(2014)
  • AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight award(2011)
  • Pride at Boeing Award Recipient (2004, 2005, 2007)
Scientific career
FieldsAdaptive control, Robust control, Differential Games, Machine Learning, Flight Control and Robotics
InstitutionsUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Yerevan State University, Yerevan
Institute of Applied Mathematics of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Academic advisors
  • Arik Melikyan

Naira Hovakimyan (born September 21, 1966) is an Armenian control theorist who holds the W. Grafton and Lillian B. Wilkins professorship of the Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is the director of AVIATE Center at UIUC, funded through a NASA University Leadership Initiative. She was the inaugural director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory during 2015–2017, associated with the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.