Dagmar Sternad

Dagmar Sternad is a University Distinguished Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biology, and Physics departments. Her computational neuroscience and motor control research explores the learning and control of sensorimotor coordination in both healthy and neurologically impaired individuals.

At the intersection of biology, engineering, and physics, her systems-level approach intertwines behavioral experiments on human subjects with theoretical work through mathematical models of control and nonlinear dynamics. Her experimental research focuses on multi-joint human movements, including complex manipulation tasks examined in real and virtual environments. Her work also carries over to patients with neurological disorders such as autism, stroke, and dystonia.

Sternad has appeared in more than 150 peer-reviewed scientific journals, conference publications, and books. She has received invitations to present at more than 200 venues and conferences and has served on review, advisory, and editorial boards across the globe. She received support from reputable organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and other private foundations. Sternad also earned the Faculty of the Year Award at Northeastern University and a Fulbright scholarship to Rome, Italy.

Before joining Northeastern, Sternad was a professor of integrative biosciences at the Pennsylvania State University. She holds a doctoral degree in experimental psychology from the University of Connecticut and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in movement science and linguistics from the Technical University of Munich.