Distinguished members rotating from industry, academia, and government

The group is an invaluable resource to the Robotics Department in shaping our program with the insight of external feedback. Members meet regularly to discuss departmental vision, strategies and issues and provide advice to the chair.

Portrait of Jon Barr

Jon Barr

COO

Varda Space Industries

Portrait of Sara Blackmer

Sara Blackmer

Managing Member & Senior Partner

Solyco Capital

CEO

FluidLogic

Portrait of Jeff Burnstein

Jeff Burnstein

President

Association for Advancing Automation (A3)

Portrait of Ashish Deshpande

Ashish Deshpande

Professor, Mechanical Engineering

The University of Texas at Austin

Director of Research Science, Reality Lab Research

Meta

Portrait of Neil Dueweke

Neil Dueweke

Strategic Advisor to the CEO

FANUC America

Portrait of Danny Ellis

Danny Ellis

CEO

SkySpecs

Portrait of Mazen Hammoud

Mazen Hammoud

Director, Motion Tech Strategy

Ford Motor Company

Portrait of Astha Kukreja

Astha Kukreja

Staff Systems Engineer

Latitude AI

Portrait of John Leonard

John Leonard

Samuel C. Collins Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering

MIT

Associate Department Head for Education

MIT MechE

Portrait of Roland Menassa

Roland Menassa

VP of Manufacturing Technology

Champion Home Builders

Portrait of Elena Messina

Elena Messina

Principal

Prospicience, LLC

Portrait of Darnell Moore

Darnell Moore

Principal Technical Program Manager of University Partnerships

Amazon Consumer Robotics

Portrait of Doug Neal

Doug Neal

Managing Director

eLab Ventures

Portrait of Leon Pryor

Leon Pryor

Senior Game Producer

META Oculus Studios

President Co-Founder

Motor City Alliance

Portrait of Mitch Rohde

Mitch Rohde

Independent Consultant

Retired CEO and Founder

Quantum Signal AI

Portrait of Katherine Scott

Katherine Scott

ROS Developer Advocate

Intrinsic

Portrait of Susan Smyth

Susan Smyth

Retired Chief Scientist for GM Manufacturing

General Motors