Monika was born on December 11, 1955 in Polenz, Germany. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. from Slovak Technical University of Bratislava, and worked in both industry and academia throughout the 1980s and 1990s.  She came to Purdue University in 2004 to lead the newly-created Maha Fluid Power Research Center. In 2008, the center moved to its current location on Kepner Drive in Lafayette, Indiana: a 15,000 square-foot research laboratory for hydraulic pumps and motors, for which Dr. Invantysynova was the director.

Her research focused on fluid power system design, modeling, multi-domain simulation, energy saving actuators, advanced transmission concepts, drive line control, computer based optimization of positive displacement pumps and motors, smart structures, and optimization of tribological systems by surface modification in micro- and nanoscale. Her research work has generated 18 patents.  She was also editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Fluid Power and an initiator and scientific board member of the first virtual network of fluid power research and education centers world wide, the Fluid Power Net International (FPNI).  She wrote a book on hydrostatic pumps and motors, has published more than 200 papers in technical journals and at international conferences. 

Dr. Ivantysynova's work has been recognized with several awards, including the 2016 Morrill Award, ASME 2015 Robert E. Koski Medal, ASME Fellow, the Purdue Innovator Hall of Fame, SAE Fellow in 2014, and Backe Medal in 2012. She also received honorary doctorates from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava, and from the Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) in Finland.