Dr. Rachel Holladay

Biography

Rachel Holladay is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Computer and Information Science. Professor Holladay is a member of the graduate group in Electrical Systems Engineering and a primary faculty member in the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing & Perception (GRASP) lab. Her research focuses on enabling robots to robustly perform long-horizon, contact-rich manipulation tasks in everyday environments. With the vision of integrating robots into daily life, her work addresses the complexities of robots performing tasks such as cooking, packing, and cleaning. These tasks require robots to execute long sequences of actions that involve both connected and discrete continuous choices while managing physical constraints. Additionally, she develops models and algorithms that exploit physics and geometry to enhance decision-making in uncertain environments. Rachel completed her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT in 2024, under the guidance of Tomás Lozano-Pérez and Alberto Rodriguez. She previously earned her B.S. in Computer Science and Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2017.

Research Interests