Maram Sakr | Incoming Assistant Professor, University of Alberta

Maram Sakr

Incoming Assistant Professor
Department of Computing Science
University of Alberta · Starting January 2027

My research lies at the intersection of robot learning, machine learning, and human-robot interaction. I am particularly interested in data quality and curation for robot learning, learning from human demonstrations and feedback, multimodal human-robot interaction, social navigation, and foundation models for robotics.

I received my Ph.D. through a joint program between the University of British Columbia and Monash University, advised by Elizabeth Croft, Dana Kulić, and Mike Van der Loos. Previously, I was a visiting graduate scholar at Stanford University and Johns Hopkins University.

Recruiting MSc and PhD students for Fall 2027!
Interested in joining my research group? Please read about my research and complete the prospective student interest form. Formal admission through the UAlberta Computing Science graduate program is also required.

Email / CV / Scholar / X / LinkedIn

Research

	Consistency Matters: Defining Demonstration Data Quality Metrics in Robot Learning from Demonstration Maram Sakr, Juyan Zhang, H.F. Machiel Van der Loos, Dana Kulić, Elizabeth Croft ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI), 2025.
	How Can Everyday Users Efficiently Teach Robots by Demonstration? Maram Sakr, Zhikai Zhang, Benjamin Li, Haomiao Zhang, H.F. Machiel Van der Loos, Dana Kulić, Elizabeth Croft ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI), 2025.
	FLAIR: Feeding via Long-horizon AcquIsition of Realistic dishes Rajat Kumar Jenamani, Priya Sundaresan, Maram Sakr, Tapomayukh Bhattacharjee†, Dorsa Sadigh† Robotic Science and Systems (RSS), 2024. Website / PDF
	Quantifying Demonstration Quality for Robot Learning and Generalization Maram Sakr, Zexi Jesse Li, H.F. Machiel Van der Loos, Dana Kulić, Elizabeth Croft IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L), 2022.
	Design and evaluation of an augmented reality head-mounted display interface for human robot teams collaborating in physically shared manufacturing tasks Wesley P. Chan, Geoffrey Hanks, Maram Sakr, Haomiao Zhang, Tiger Zuo H.F. Machiel Van der Loos, Elizabeth Croft ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction (THRI), 2022.
	Learning from demonstration for real-time user goal prediction and shared assistive control Calvin Z Qiao, Maram Sakr, Katharina Muelling, Henny Admoni IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), 2021.
	Training Human Teacher to Improve Robot Learning from Demonstration: A Pilot Study on Kinesthetic Teaching Maram Sakr, Martin Freeman, HF Machiel Van der Loos, Elizabeth Croft IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), 2020.
	Estimation of User-Applied Isometric Force/Torque Using Upper Extremity Force Myography Maram Sakr, Xianta Jiang, Carlo Menon Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 2019.
	Play me back: a unified training platform for robotic and laparoscopic surgery Alaa Eldin Abdelaal, Maram Sakr, Apeksha Avinash, Shahed K Mohammed, Armaan Kaur Bajwa, Mohakta Sahni, Soheil Hor, Sidney Fels, Septimiu E Salcudean IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters(RA-L), 2018.

Website source taken from here.