Panetta named to European Academy of Sciences and Arts

Karen Panetta, Dean of Graduate Education for Tufts School of Engineering, has been elected to the Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea, or the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. Based in Salzburg, Austria, the Academy aims to foster cross-disciplinary collaboration between leading scientists, practitioners of governance, and artists, all with the goal of analyzing societal challenges and solving complex issues. Election to the Academy is a rare and prestigious honor – there are only 2,000 members in total, and its ranks of elected and honorary members include 35 Nobel Prize winners and numerous former heads of state.

Panetta was named a member in the Academy’s class of Technical and Environmental Sciences in recognition of her groundbreaking research in robotics and robotic vision, artificial intelligence, machine learning, image processing, and visual sensing systems. 

In addition to leading graduate education programs for the School of Engineering at Tufts, she conducts research and mentors students in the Vision and Sensing Systems Laboratory. She is a professor of electrical and computer engineering with secondary appointments in mechanical engineering and computer science.

Panetta has a career-long passion for advocating for women and girls in STEM. She founded the Nerd Girls program in 2000 with the goal of empowering female engineering and science students, and also founded and serves as editor-in-chief of the award-winning IEEE Women in Engineering Magazine. In 2011, President Barack Obama presented Panetta with a U.S. Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Math, and Engineering Mentoring in recognition of her work.

This European recognition follows closely on the heels of Panetta’s induction into the US National Academy of Engineers – one of the foremost honors afforded to engineers. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Asia-Pacific Intelligence Association (AAIA), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).