Prof. Ilana Nisky

Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
PI, Biomedical Robotics Lab
​PI on rehabilitation with haptic interfaces at the Neuro Negev Lab 

Office: Building 64, Room 105
Phone: +972-86428936
Email: nisky [at] bgu.ac.il

Affiliations

Department of Biomedical Engineering
ABC Robotics – Agricultural, Biological and Cognitive Robotics
Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience
​Neuro Negev Lab - Translational Neurorehabilitation Lab
Israel-Italy Vrtual Lab on Artificial Somatosensation for Humans and Humanoids

Biosketch

Ilana Nisky received the B.Sc (summa cum laude), M.Sc. (summa cum laude), and Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, in 2006, 2009, and 2011, respectively. She is currently Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where she is the head of the Biomedical Robotics Lab. She is also the head of the Israel-Italy Virtual Lab on Artificial Somatosensation for Humans and Humanoids, and the principal investigator on rehabilitation with haptic interfaces at the Neuro Negev Lab - Translational Neurorehabilitation Lab. She was previously a visiting academic fellow in the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, and a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University. She is the recipient of the 2021 Neural Control of Movement Society Early Career Award, the 2019 IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Early Academic Career Award, the prestigious Alon Fellowship for young faculty from the Israeli Council for High Education, and the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship from the European Commission. Her research interests include human motor control, haptics, robotics, human and machine learning, teleoperation, and robot-assisted surgery, and her lab is supported by competitive grants from the Israeli Science Foundation, the Israel-US Binational Science Foundation, the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Israeli Innovation Authority. Nisky has authored more than 80 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings, and numerous abstracts in international conferences. She is an Associate Editor at the IEEE Transactions on Haptics, the IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, and IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering journals, a member of the BGU ABC Robotics Initiatuve, and the Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience. She served as an executive committee member of the EuroHaptics Society 2014-2018, and is a board member of the Israeli Society for Medical and Biological Engineering. She is a Senior Member of IEEE, a member of the Society for the Neural Control of Movement, the Society for Neuroscience, Technical Committee on Haptics, and American Physiology Society. 


CV

Positions

2022 - now     Full Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel 
2021 - 2022    Visiting Academic Fellow, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge
2018 - 2022    Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel 
2014 - 2018    Senior Lecturer, Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel 
2011 - 2014    Postdoctoral Fellow, CHARM Lab, Stanford University, USA

Education

Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, 2011 
M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering (Summa cum Laude), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, 2009 
B.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering (Summa cum Laude), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, 2006

Selected Awards

2021 Neural Control of Movement Early Career Award
2019 IEEE RAS Early Academic Career Award
2018 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Vice President and Dean for R&D award for excellent research
2016 The Israel Council of Higher Education Alon Fellowship for Young Faculty
2016 Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Toronto Excellence in Research Award
2015 40 Most Promising Young People of 2015, The Marker
2012 European Commission FP7 Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship
2011 Weizmann Institute of Science National Postdoctoral Award for Advancing Women in Science
2011 Best Poster Award (2nd place) at the The Israeli Society for Medical and Biological Engineering Annual meeting
2011 BGU Rector excellence award for PhD students
2010 Israel Association for Automatic Control Student Travel Stipend
2010 Ehud Ben-Amitai prize for excellent research in aerospace sciences (for the study of transparency in teleoperation)
2010 The Wolf scholarship award for excellent doctoral students
2009 Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience Award for excellence in research
2009 Best student paper award at the IEEE Virtual Rehabilitation International Conference
2009 – 2011 Clore Scholars Programme Fellowship
2009 Best poster award at the 5th computational motor control workshop
2009 Best Poster Award (3rd place) at the The Israeli Society for Medical and Biological Engineering Annual meeting
2009 BGU Dean of Engineering excellence award for PhD students
2008 Best Poster Award (1st place) at the The Israeli Society for Medical and Biological Engineering Annual meeting
2006 – 2010 Kreitman Foundation Fellowship

Press

Miscelaneous

I enjoy hiking, bird watching, running, cycling, and rock climbing with my partner Uzi, our daughters Dror and Rotem, and our dog Nioki.