Rate My Professor Lily (Li) Qiao

Dr Lily (Li) Qiao is a Senior Lecturer in Space Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering and Technology at UNSW Canberra, University of New South Wales. She earned her PhD in Guidance, Navigation, and Control from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2011, including a study exchange at the School of Surveying and Spatial Information Systems at UNSW Sydney. From 2011 to 2014, she worked as a research associate at the Australian Centre for Space Engineering Research at UNSW Sydney, contributing to the design of the Garada Earth Observation Mission and EC0 CubeSat Mission. Subsequently, she joined UNSW Canberra as a research associate at the Capability Systems Centre in the School of Engineering and Information Technology, was promoted to Lecturer in 2018, and to Senior Lecturer in 2023. Qiao has supervised two PhD students to completion and currently supervises six others on topics including artificial intelligence systems testing, cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, and dynamic modular system architectures.

Qiao's research specializations encompass space engineering systems design and the application of artificial intelligence and computational intelligence methods to space systems, including autonomous spacecraft navigation via Global Navigation Satellite Systems and celestial navigation, spacecraft attitude determination and control, tradespace exploration, and system modular analysis. She has published over 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, with key works such as 'Cyber Resilience Limitations in Space Systems Design Process: Insights from Designers' (Systems, 2024, co-authored with Shahzad S et al.), 'Taming the Confluence of Space Systems and Cybersecurity' (book chapter in Cybersecurity for Decision Makers, 2023), and 'Decision making for multi-objective problems: Mean and median metrics' (Systems Engineering, 2023). In teaching, she convenes postgraduate courses ZEIT8008 Space Systems Design and ZEIT8009 Global Navigation Satellite Systems, and undergraduate ZEIT4227 Radar Technology and Application, and chaired the Space Panel for undergraduate final-year projects in 2022-2023. Her leadership includes Chair of the Program Committee for the Australian Space Research Conference since 2024, founder and chair of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society Chapter in the Australian Capital Territory Section, and President of the Women in Space Chapter of the National Space Society of Australia. Awards include the UNSW Career Advancement Fund for Female Academics (2018-2020), Tradespace Exploration SEIT SFRG (2022), and Smart Mission Design SET SFG (2024).