Karen Trovato, PhD

Dr. Karen Trovato worked as a Principal Member of Research and as Project Leader at Philips Research with a focus on path planning, which she used for robotics, a self-driving car, and the first driving directions website.

Dr. Trovato later invented medical devices to reach into the body, including an electronic pill that uses computer controls to deliver a patient’s medication at the optimal time. The pill was featured in the New York Times and on CNN, and launched as the Medimetrics Company. She was the Chief Technical Officer of Novel Reach, Inc., a new business based on one of her more recent inventions, a device to reach and treat lung cancer without surgery.

Dr. Trovato is a prolific inventor with over 100 issued patents worldwide. She was NYIPLA 2005 Inventor of the Year, and is a U.S. Patent Agent.

She is passionate about encouraging the study of STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) by all students, but especially those underrepresented; and her greatest joy is seeing inventions become reality as products.

Dr. Trovato holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Amsterdam, a M.S. in Computer Science from NYU, a B.S. in Math/Computer Science from SUNY Stony Brook, and an A.A. in Math from Dutchess Community College. She has published over three dozen papers and contributed chapters to four books.

Honors:

2017 Eleanor Roosevelt Medalist
2022 Honorary PhD State University of New York

Research interests: Robotics, Path Planning, Algorithms, Medical Informatics

Faculty Advisor: Girls Who Code. Bedford Calendar Project

LinkedIn
CV: KTrovato
PhD Thesis: Differential A*, including Path Planning for Robots and Vehicles, Univ. Amsterdam