Disha Kamale, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, was recently selected as a 2025 Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Rising Star. Kamale is one of 30 researchers from across the nation selected for this honor, which aims to identify research excellence and academic leadership potential.
She attended the 2025 CPS Rising Stars Workshop, which is funded by the National Science Foundation, held March 12 at Vanderbilt University.
“I am honored to receive this recognition,” says Kamale. “The workshop was a wonderful opportunity to connect with my peers who are passionate about solving similar research challenges, network with faculty members, and gain insights into navigating the early stages of a research career.”
At Lehigh, Kamale is advised by Cristian-Ioan Vasile, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics, and is a member of the Autonomous and Intelligent Robotics Laboratory (AIR Lab). Her research focuses on planning and decision-making for safe autonomy under imperfect perception—with a vision of “developing safe, trustworthy autonomous systems that seamlessly integrate into our complex world.”
The CPS Rising Stars Workshop aims to identify and mentor outstanding PhD students and postdocs who are interested in pursuing academic careers in cyber-physical systems, which are engineered systems that seamlessly integrate computational and physical components.
