Caroline Cao
Caroline G.L. Cao is a professor of ISE and the director of Applied Health Technology Initiatives at The Grainger College of Engineering. She is also the health innovation professor and director of Engineering Innovation and Medical Simulation at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Before joining the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, she was the international chair for Industry of the Future and a computer science professor at IMT Atlantique in Brest, France, from 2021 to 2023. While there, she established collaborations with industries to tackle challenges in Industry 4.0 and 5.0, such as digital twins, human-robot interaction, artificial intelligence, XR technology and system resilience.
Cao is a researcher, educator and entrepreneur with extensive experience designing and developing medical systems and devices and enabling technology such as AR/VR, simulation and training, decision aid, haptics, sensory substitution, navigational aid and robotics for minimally invasive surgery and robotic surgery. She specializes in human factors engineering, particularly skills acquisition and performance evaluation.
Cao has received several accolades, including the NSF CAREER Award, U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award and international chair of RFI (Recherche, Formation, Innovation) in ATLANSTIC 2020. She is also an elected fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.