PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Grace X. Gao

Also known as Grace Gao, Grace Xingxin Gao

Grace Gao is a Stanford associate professor who studies navigation for autonomous vehicles and co-directs the Stanford Center for AI Safety. She earned engineering degrees at Tsinghua and Stanford, decoded Galileo and Compass satellite signals, and joined Illinois’s aerospace engineering faculty in 2012. Her 2018 NSF CAREER project studied how autonomous vehicles could measure confidence in their GPS positions. In 2024, she coauthored Neural Elevation Models for Terrain Mapping and Path Planning, which introduced terrain models learned from images to help plan routes. She and her students won NASA’s Lunar Autonomy Challenge in 2025.

Works
289
Citations
2,551
h-index
25

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 27 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2001–2003

    Engineering degrees at Tsinghua

    She earns a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 2001 and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 2003 at Tsinghua University.

  2. 2006–2007

    Decoding Galileo and Compass signals

    In 2006, Gao derives the algorithms that generate the codes broadcast by Galileo’s GIOVE-A satellite. In 2007, she decodes the civil signals from the Compass-M1 satellite and uses the codes in a software receiver to acquire and track it.

  3. 2008

    A Stanford doctorate

    She completes a PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford University in 2008. The Institute of Navigation gives her its 2008 Early Achievement Award for work on Galileo and Compass satellite signals.

  4. October 2012

    Joining Illinois aerospace engineering

    After work as a research associate in Stanford’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, she joins the aerospace engineering faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in October 2012.

  5. 2018

    A CAREER award for navigation

    In 2018, she receives a National Science Foundation CAREER award to study the reliability of GPS navigation for autonomous vehicles. The project combines GPS, camera vision and other sensors to assess confidence in position estimates.

  6. By 2020

    Autonomous navigation at Stanford

    By September 2020, she is an assistant professor in Stanford’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Her work improves navigation for autonomous robots, including self-driving cars and drones.

  7. May 2024

    Neural elevation models

    With Adam Dai and Shubh Gupta, Gao coauthors Neural Elevation Models for Terrain Mapping and Path Planning in May 2024. The work adapts neural radiance fields to learn terrain models from images and uses the models to plan routes that account for distance, slope changes and control effort.

  8. 2025

    Winning the Lunar Autonomy Challenge

    She and her students win first place in NASA’s Lunar Autonomy Challenge in 2025. Their navigation and mapping system uses learned perception models for image segmentation and feature tracking, with planning and control for a simulated lunar environment.

  9. As of October 2026

    Professor and AI safety co-director

    As of October 2026, she is an associate professor in Stanford’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, with a courtesy appointment in Electrical Engineering. She directs the Navigation and Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory and co-directs the Stanford Center for AI Safety.

Career

  1. NowStanford UniversityAssociate professor
  2. NowStanford UniversityCourtesy appointment
  3. NowStanford UniversityDirector of Navigation and Autonomous Vehicles Laboratory
  4. NowStanford UniversityCo-director of Stanford Center for AI Safety
  5. NowStanford UniversityCo-lead, Robotics and Autonomous Systems Area, Stanford SystemX Alliance
  6. From 2012University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignAssistant professor of aerospace engineering
  7. Stanford UniversityResearch associate
  8. Stanford UniversityAssistant professor

Education

  1. 2008Stanford UniversityPhD in electrical engineering
  2. 2003Tsinghua UniversityMaster's degree in electrical engineering
  3. 2001Tsinghua UniversityBachelor's degree in mechanical engineering

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

Checked career sources: smartgrid.illinois.edu, navlab.stanford.edu.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Grace X. Gao yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Gao wins Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence | Electrical & Computer Engineering | Illinois ece.illinois.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  2. 2008 Early Achievement Award - Dr. Grace Xingxin Gao ion.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  3. Grace Gao | TCIPG: Trustworthy Cyber Infrastructure for the Power Grid smartgrid.illinois.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  4. Gao wins AIAA Illinois Teacher of the Year award | Electrical & Computer Engineering | Illinois ece.illinois.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  5. Grace Gao receives NSF CAREER award for UAV research | Aerospace Engineering | Illinois aerospace.illinois.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  6. Spotlight: Grace Gao | Stanford University School of Engineering engineering.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  7. [2405.15227] Neural Elevation Models for Terrain Mapping and Path Planning arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  8. Grace Gao's Profile | Stanford Profiles profiles.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  9. [2603.17232] Full Stack Navigation, Mapping, and Planning for the Lunar Autonomy Challenge arxiv.org. Checked 27 October 2026.
  10. Prof. Grace Gao | Navigation and Autonomous Vehicles (NAV) Lab navlab.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.
  11. People - Stanford AI Safety aisafety.stanford.edu. Checked 27 October 2026.