☰
Advisory Board
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.

Jon Barr
COO
Varda Space Industries

Sara Blackmer
Managing Member & Senior Partner
Solyco Capital
CEO
FluidLogic

Jeff Burnstein
President
Association for Advancing Automation (A3)

Ashish Deshpande
Professor, Mechanical Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Director of Research Science, Reality Lab Research
Meta

Neil Dueweke
Strategic Advisor to the CEO
FANUC America

Danny Ellis
CEO
SkySpecs

Mazen Hammoud
Director, Motion Tech Strategy
Ford Motor Company

Astha Kukreja
Staff Systems Engineer
Latitude AI

John Leonard
Samuel C. Collins Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering
MIT
Associate Department Head for Education
MIT MechE

Roland Menassa
VP of Manufacturing Technology
Champion Home Builders

Elena Messina
Principal
Prospicience, LLC

Darnell Moore
Principal Technical Program Manager of University Partnerships
Amazon Consumer Robotics

Doug Neal
Managing Director
eLab Ventures

Leon Pryor
Senior Game Producer
META Oculus Studios
President Co-Founder
Motor City Alliance

Mitch Rohde
Independent Consultant
Retired CEO and Founder
Quantum Signal AI

Katherine Scott
ROS Developer Advocate
Intrinsic

Susan Smyth
Retired Chief Scientist for GM Manufacturing
General Motors