PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Avideh Zakhor

Avideh Zakhor is a professor emerita at UC Berkeley whose AI work includes computer vision and robotic mapping. She completed her doctorate at MIT in 1987 and joined Berkeley in 1988 as its first woman professor of electrical engineering. Her companies included UrbanScan, which she co-founded in 2005 and Google acquired in 2007, and Indoor Reality, which she founded in 2015 to map buildings in 3D. In 2026, she coauthored work with Monica Tang on detecting and separating indoor objects in 3D scenes reconstructed from drone images.

Works
450
Citations
11,047
h-index
55
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1978–1980

    School in Wales

    Born in Tehran, she goes to the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales in 1978 on an Iranian government scholarship. In 1980, she joins her family in Los Angeles and enters Caltech to study electrical engineering.

  2. 1983–1987

    Electrical engineering at Caltech and MIT

    She earns a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Caltech in 1983. At MIT, she completes a master's degree in 1985 and a doctorate in 1987 in electrical engineering and computer science.

  3. 1988–1998

    Professor at Berkeley

    In 1988, she joins UC Berkeley as an assistant professor of electrical engineering, becoming the department's first woman electrical engineering professor. She gains tenure in 1994 and becomes a full professor in 1998.

  4. 1996–2007

    Signamask and UrbanScan

    In 1996, she co-founds Signamask to commercialize optical proximity correction for chipmaking; Mentor Graphics acquires it in 1998. In the early 2000s, her team combines data from sensors and cameras on a car with aerial photographs and lidar to build a 3D model of a city block. She co-founds UrbanScan in 2005, and Google acquires it in 2007.

  5. 2007–2015

    The mapping backpack

    In 2007, she starts a project to map building interiors with a backpack fitted with cameras and scanners. By 2015, her team uses the system to collect building data for energy audits, with software that processes the measurements.

  6. 2015

    Founding Indoor Reality

    In 2015, she founds Indoor Reality to develop rapid 3D mapping and visualization of buildings and assets.

  7. 2018

    Electronic Imaging Scientist award

    In 2018, she receives the Electronic Imaging Scientist of the Year award for contributions to signal processing, 3D computer vision, reality capture, mapping, and image and video compression and communication.

  8. 2022

    RoboAttic and Thermadrone

    In 2022, she leads the RoboAttic/Thermadrone team, one of the winners of the U.S. Department of Energy's E-ROBOT competition. Thermadrone uses thermal drone images to identify insulation work, while RoboAttic robots clean, seal and insulate attics.

  9. April 2026

    Detecting indoor assets from drones

    In April 2026, she coauthors “Indoor Asset Detection in Large Scale 360° Drone-Captured Imagery via 3D Gaussian Splatting” with Monica Tang. The method detects and segments indoor assets in 3D scenes reconstructed from drone images, combining object masks from several views into 3D objects.

  10. As of October 2026

    Professor emerita at Berkeley

    As of October 2026, she is a professor emerita at UC Berkeley, with research interests in signal processing, image processing and computer vision. Her Fall 2026 projects include reinforcement learning for drone obstacle avoidance and computer vision for robots that clean attics.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of California, BerkeleyProfessor Emerita
  2. From 2015Indoor RealityFounder
  3. From 2005UrbanScanCo-Founder
  4. From 1996SignamaskCo-Founder
  5. RoboAttic/ThermadroneTeam Lead, RoboAttic/Thermadrone

Education

  1. 1987Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyPhD in electrical engineering and computer science
  2. 1985Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMaster’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science
  3. 1983California Institute of TechnologyBachelor’s degree in electrical engineering
  4. From 1978United World College of the AtlanticStudent

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

Checked career sources: eecs.berkeley.edu, hertzfoundation.org, hertzfoundation.org.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Avideh Zakhor yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. A Relatively Recent History: Women Doctoral Graduates in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, 1969-1981 - EECS at Berkeley eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. Avideh Zakhor | EECS at UC Berkeley www2.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. The First Women of EECS - EECS at Berkeley eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. The Hungry Mind: Professor Avideh Zakhor newsarchive.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Avideh Zakhor - Hertz Foundation hertzfoundation.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Hertz Fellow Avideh Zakhor Maps Indoor Environments One Step at a Time - Hertz Foundation hertzfoundation.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. The mapping backpack - Berkeley Engineering engineering.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Electronic Imaging 2025 - EI Awards imaging.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. There's a spider robot in the attic! MBA students help win national E-ROBOT competition - Haas News | UC Berkeley Haas newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  10. [2604.05316] Indoor Asset Detection in Large Scale 360° Drone-Captured Imagery via 3D Gaussian Splatting arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  11. Avideh Zakhor | Research UC Berkeley vcresearch.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  12. URAP Project Descriptions urapprojects.berkeley.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.