“The solutions to the most complex research, technological and societal challenges cannot be accomplished entirely within one academic discipline; they require contributions from neighboring disciplines as well. ERVA is a new, independent, diverse and collaborative platform that will enable just that.”
Dorota A. Grejner-Brzezinska serves as the Principal Investigator for the NSF Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA). An accomplished educator and researcher, and a seasoned academic leader, Dorota A. Grejner-Brzezinska is a Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison (UW – Madison). She oversees the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research (OVCR), boasting more than $1.73 billion in annual research expenditures, a figure that puts UW–Madison in the top 10 in the nation among universities for volume of research. The OVCR includes the administration of 20 cross-campus interdisciplinary research institutes and centers. She is also a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UW-Madison.
Prior to that, she was a Distinguished University Professor, Lowber B. Strange Endowed Chair, and Professor in Geodetic Engineering at The Ohio State University (OSU), where she served as Vice President for Knowledge Enterprise at OSU’s Enterprise for Research, Innovation and Knowledge. She previously served as Chair of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering and Associate Dean for Research, in the College of Engineering at OSU. Dorota’s research accomplishments are in the Global Positioning System (GPS) and the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) high-accuracy algorithms, multi-sensor integration for assured navigation in GNSS-challenged environments, sensors, and algorithms for indoor and personal navigation, image-based navigation using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In recognition of her academic accomplishments, she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), elected a Fellow of the Institute of Navigation (ION), a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN), and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is the recipient of many academic and leadership accolades, among them: the 2016 ION Johannes Kepler Award “For sustained and significant contributions to satellite navigation”, 2023 IEEE/PLANS Richard B. Kershner Award, the 2005 and 2015 U.S. Geospatial Information Foundation Academic Research Award “For sustained and significant contributions to advancing the state-of-the-art in GEOINT relevant to national security, and for educating future GEOINT leaders”, the 2018 International Association of the Institutes of Navigation John Harrison Award, which is a life achievement award given to one individual every three years. She is the first woman to receive this award and also the first woman to receive a prestigious ION Thomas Thurlow Award in 2005. Dorota is particularly proud of the award she received in 2017 from the Institute of International Education’s Scholar Rescue Fund Award for Outstanding Service, in recognition of her “commitment to preserving the voices and ideas of threatened scholars worldwide.”
She served as President of the ION (2015-2017), and President of the International Association of Geodesy (IAG) Commission 4, Positioning and Applications (2011-2015), and is an IAG Fellow. In January 2023, she was appointed by President Biden to serve on the National Science Board. She currently serves on the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) Advisory Board, and served on the U.S. President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).