Maria Gorlatova, Ph.D.

Electrical and Computer Engineering

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Maria Gorlatova, Ph.D. Profile Photo
Maria Gorlatova, Ph.D. Profile Photo

Research Themes

Trustworthy Computing

Research Interests

Architectures, algorithms, and protocols for emerging mobile pervasive systems and the Internet of Things. Our work crosses traditional discipline boundaries and requires thinking across multiple layers of system and protocol stacks. We are focusing on breaking the barriers for technologies that enable fundamentally new deployments and experiences, such as energy harvesting, artificial intelligence adapted to the Internet of Things constraints, and augmented reality.

Bio

Dr. Maria Gorlatova's research is at the intersection of sensor, mobile, and pervasive computer systems and communications and networking. She creates human-facing pervasive computing platforms that enable transformative applications and support users in leading healthy and productive lives and in reaching personal and professional goals.

The focus of her recent work is on advanced augmented reality (AR) platforms that integrate edge computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) to enable contextual, responsive, and scalable AR experiences. She conduct research in edge AI, collaborative and infrastructure-assisted spatial and semantic awareness for AR, AR user cognitive context sensing, and AR QoS and QoE evaluation. 

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Dr. Gorlatova earned her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, and her M.Sc. and B.Sc. (Summa Cum Laude) degrees in Electrical Engineering from University of Ottawa, Canada. She has several years of industry experience, where she had been affiliated with Telcordia Technologies, IBM, and D. E. Shaw Research. She came to Duke from Princeton University, where she held the positions of an Associate Research Scholar in the Electrical Engineering Department and an Associate Director of the Princeton EDGE Lab. 

Dr. Gorlatova received multiple awards including the 2025 DARPA Director’s Fellowship Award, 2023 DARPA Young Faculty Award, 2021 NSF CAREER Award, 2021 Facebook Research Award, 2023 Cisco Research Award, 2020 and 2023 IBM Faculty Awards, 2016 IEEE Communications Society Young Author Best Paper Award, 2020 ACM/IEEE IPSN Best Research Artifact Award, and 2011 IEEE Communications Society Award for Advances in Communications. She also received the Google Anita Borg USA Fellowship, Columbia University Presidential Fellowship, and top national Alexander Graham Bell Canadian Graduate Scholar (CGS) NSERC M.Sc. and Ph.D. Fellowships. Dr. Gorlatova serves on technical program committees of multiple conferences including ACM SenSys, ACM/IEEE IPSN, IEEE INFOCOM, IEEE ICDCS, ACM SIGCOMM, and ACM MobiCom. She chaired the TPC of the Edge Computing track of IEEE ICDCS,  the TPC of ACM/IEEE IPSN, and the TPC of ACM/IEEE SenSys.

Education

  • B.S. University of Ottawa (Canada), 2004
  • M.S. University of Ottawa (Canada), 2007
  • Ph.D. Columbia University, 2013

Trainings & Certifications

  • Associate Research Scholar, Princeton University 2016 - 2018 (2016 - 2018) Princeton University

Positions

  • Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Assistant Professor of Computer Science
  • Faculty Network Member of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

  • DARPA Directoru2019s Fellowship Award. DARPA. 2025
  • DARPA Young Faculty Award . DARPA. 2023
  • National Science Foundation CAREER Award. National Science Foundation (NSF). 2021
  • Best Research Artifact Award. IEEE IPSN. 2020
  • N2 Women Rising Star. Networking Networking Women (N2Women). 2019
  • Young Author Best Paper Award. IEEE Communications Society. 2016
  • Jury Award for Outstanding Achievement in Communications. Columbia University Electrical Engineering Department. 2013
  • Anita Borg USA Fellowship. Google. 2012
  • Award for Advances in Communications. IEEE Communications Society. 2011
  • Best Student Demonstration Award. ACM SenSys. 2011
  • Presidential Fellowship. Columbia University. 2008
  • Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate CGS-D Scholarship. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Canada. 2008

Courses Taught

  • NEUROSCI 494: Research Independent Study 2
  • NEUROSCI 493: Research Independent Study 1
  • EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
  • ECE 899: Special Readings in Electrical Engineering
  • ECE 891: Internship
  • ECE 654: Edge Computing
  • ECE 494: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 493: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 392: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 391: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 356: Computer Network Architecture
  • ECE 292: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • ECE 291: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • COMPSCI 564: Edge Computing
  • COMPSCI 394: Research Independent Study
  • COMPSCI 393: Research Independent Study
  • COMPSCI 356: Computer Network Architecture
  • CMAC 491: Computational Media, Arts and Culture Independent Study

Publications

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