Honors and Awards
Our faculty and staff frequently are recognized for their excellence in creating innovative initiatives and robust programs that elevate outcomes for both robotics and roboticists in research, academics, and society.
Below are a list of major accomplishments from our faculty and staff community.
| Name | Year | Award | Organization |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernadette Bucher | 2024 | Best Paper in Cognitive Robotics | ICRA |
| Katherine Skinner | 2024 | NSF CAREER Award | National Science Foundation |
| Kira Barton | 2024 | Elected to ASME Fellow | ASME |
| Leia Stirling | 2024 | NASA Human Research Program Student Poster Award | NASA |
| Lionel Robert | 2024 | World’s Top 2% Influential Scientists | Stanford/Elsevier |
| Lionel Robert | 2024 | ACM Distinguished Member | Association for Computing Machinery |
| Lionel Robert | 2024 | INFORMS Senior Member | INFORMS |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2024 | NSF EAGER | NSF |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2024 | DARPA Yong Faculty Award | DARPA |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2024 | Best Paper Award | IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters |
| Robert Gregg | 2024 | Faculty Recognition Award | University of Michigan |
| Xiaoxiao Du | 2024 | Senior Member | IEEE |
| Alyssa Emigh | 2024 | Staff Excellence Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Cynthia Chestek | 2023 | Fellow | American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering |
| Dimitra Panagou | 2023 | George J. Huebner Jr. Research Excellence Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Elliott Rouse | 2023 | Henry Russel Award | University of Michigan |
| Elliott Rouse | 2023 | Departmental Faculty Award | U-M Department of Robotics |
| Katherine Skinner | 2023 | Best Paper Award | IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters |
| Leia Stirling | 2023 | HFES Occupational Ergonomics Technical Group Best Experimental Paper | HFES |
| Leia Stirling | 2023 | IEEE Senior Member | IEEE |
| Leia Stirling | 2023 | University of Michigan North Campus Deans' Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Award | University of Michigan |
| Lionel Robert | 2023 | World’s Top 2% Influential Scientists | Stanford/Elsevier |
| Maani Ghaffari | 2023 | Best Paper Award Finalists | Robotics: Science and Systems |
| Mark Draelos | 2023 | ISMR 2023 Best Paper Award – Honorable Mention | IEEE International Symposium on Medical Robotics (ISMR) |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2023 | Best Paper Award Finalist | Robotics: Science and Systems |
| Talia Moore | 2023 | Finalist ENGR 100 Section of the Year Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Talia Moore | 2023 | Nominated for the Outstanding Advisor Award | Advising Council of University of Michigan |
| Yanran Ding | 2023 | Blue Ribbon TC Award | IEEE-RAS TC on Model-Based Optimization for Robotics |
| Daniel Newman | 2023 | Staff Excellence Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Kayla Dombrowski | 2023 | Team Staff Excellence Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Denise Edmund | 2023 | Team Staff Excellence Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Christina Hollis | 2023 | Team Staff Excellence Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Lionel Robert | 2022 | World’s Top 2% Influential Scientists | Stanford/Elsevier |
| Cynthia Chestek | 2022 | Miller Faculty Scholar | U-M College of Engineering |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2022 | Hideo Hanafusa Outstanding Investigator Award | International Symposium on Flexible Automation |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2022 | J. Cordell Breed Award for Women Leaders | Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) |
| Dmitry Berenson | 2022 | IEEE Senior Member | IEEE |
| Kira Barton | 2022 | Manufacturing Leadership Award | SME |
| Kira Barton | 2022 | 1 of 25 Leaders Transforming Manufacturing | SME |
| Kira Barton | 2022 | DSCD Young Investigator Award | ASME |
| Leia Stirling | 2022 | Claudia Joan Alexander Trailblazer Award Nominee | U-M Women in Science and Engineering |
| Mark Draelos | 2022 | Duke VisionFest First Place Research Talk | Duke University |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2022 | Best Paper Award | IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics |
| Talia Moore | 2022 | ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award | ORAU |
| Xiaonan Huang | 2022 | Best Paper Award | IEEE Sensors Conference |
| Xiaoxiao Du | 2022 | Program Committee Member and Top Reviewer, SL4AD | ICML 2022 |
| Xiaoxiao Du | 2022 | Computer and Information Science and Engineering Research Initiation (NSF CRII) Award | National Science Foundation |
| Lionel Robert | 2021 | IEEE Senior Member | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers |
| Maani Ghaffari | 2021 | Amazon Research Award | Amazon Research |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2021 | Nyquist Lecture | ASME-DSCD |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2021 | Sarah Goddard Power Award | University of Michigan |
| Jessy Grizzle | 2021 | Certificate of Appreciation for Contributions to the NxtGen STEM Scholars Program | Michigan Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (MI-LSAMP) |
| Leia Stirling | 2021 | University of Michigan Industrial and Operations Engineering Wilson Faculty Fellowship | University of Michigan |
| Leia Stirling | 2021 | AIAA Associate Fellow | AIAA |
| Lionel Robert | 2021 | Senior Editor of the Year | AIS Transactions on HCI |
| Lionel Robert | 2021 | World’s Top 2% Influential Scientists | Stanford/Elsevier |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2021 | Best Design Paper Award | 16th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2021 | 1938E Award | University of Michigan |
| Xiaonan Huang | 2021 | Best PhD Dissertation Award | Carnegie Mellon University |
| Yanran Ding | 2021 | Best Paper Award Finalist | Model-Based Optimization for Robotics Technical Committee (TC) |
| Cynthia Chestek | 2020 | Wise-Najafi Prize for Engineering Excellence in the Miniature World | U-M College of Engineering |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2020 | SAE Vincent Bendix Award | SAE |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2020 | Leadership in Engineering Award | Washington Academy of Sciences |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2020 | Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award | Automotive Research Center |
| Dimitra Panagou | 2020 | CoE Ted Kennedy Family Faculty Team Excellence Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Elliott Rouse | 2020 | Most Innovative – Robotics Category: Neurobionics Lab Open Source Bionic Leg | Fast Company |
| Leia Stirling | 2020 | University of Illinois Outstanding Recent Alumnus Award | University of Illinois |
| Leia Stirling | 2020 | IEEE Aerospace Track 8 (Spacecraft, Launch Vehicle Sys. & Technologies) Best Paper | IEEE |
| Lionel Robert | 2020 | Vincent Bendix Best Paper Award | SAE International |
| Lionel Robert | 2020 | COE Ted Kennedy Team Research Award | University of Michigan |
| Mark Draelos | 2020 | KUKA Innovation Award Finalist – Medical Robotics | KUKA |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2020 | EECS Rising Stars | UC Berkeley |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2020 | Future Digileader | KTH |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2020 | Postdoctoral Researcher Award | University of Washington |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2020 | Ada Lovelace Travel Grant | Open Hardware Summit |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2020 | Ted Kennedy Team Award | University of Michigan |
| Robert Gregg | 2020 | IEEE Transactions on Robotics Best Paper Award Honorable Mention | IEEE Transactions on Robotics |
| Elliott Rouse | 2019 | NSF CAREER Award | CBET DARE |
| Jessy Grizzle | 2019 | Googol Best New Application Paper Award | IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering |
| Jessy Grizzle | 2019 | Certificate of Appreciation for Advocacy of Disability Issues | U-M Council for Disability Concerns |
| Lionel Robert | 2019 | AIS Distinguished Member Designation | Association for Information Systems |
| Lionel Robert | 2019 | Best Paper Award | Journal of the Association for Information Systems |
| Maani Ghaffari | 2019 | Googol Best New Application Paper Award | IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2019 | RSS Pioneer | RSS |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2019 | Best Student Paper (Advisor) | ASME Dynamics Systems and Control Conference |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2019 | Best Systems Paper Finalist | Robotics: Science and Systems |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2019 | Mechanical Engineering Department Achievement Award | University of Michigan |
| Robert Gregg | 2019 | Forchheimer Prize Paper Finalist | International Society for Prosthetics and Orthotics |
| Xiaonan Huang | 2019 | Best Paper Award | 2nd international PhD Academic Forum on Intelligent Manufacturing (IPAFIM 2019) |
| Christoforos Mavrogiannis | 2018 | HRI Pioneer | ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction |
| Cynthia Chestek | 2018 | Department of Biomedical Engineering Award | University of Michigan |
| Dmitry Berenson | 2018 | NSF CAREER Award | NSF |
| Jason Corso | 2018 | Outstanding Achievement Award | U-M EECS Department |
| Katherine Skinner | 2018 | Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding Ph.D. Research Honorable Mention | U-M College of Engineering |
| Leia Stirling | 2018 | ONR Young Investigator Award | ONR |
| Leia Stirling | 2018 | 1938E Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Lionel Robert | 2018 | Best Late Breaking Report Award | ACM Human-Robot Interaction |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2018 | Best Paper | IEEE OCEANS |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2018 | Best Multi-Robot Systems Paper | IEEE Conference on Robotics and Automation |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2018 | Best Video Abstract | Dynamic Walking |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2018 | Young Investigator Award | Office of Naval Research |
| Ram Vasudevan | 2018 | Faculty Early CAREER Award | National Science Foundation |
| Robert Gregg | 2018 | Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergrad Research Mentoring | UT Dallas |
| Robert Gregg | 2018 | Eugene McDermott Professorship | University of Texas at Dallas |
| Robert Gregg | 2018 | ICRA Conference Editorial Board Best Associate Editor Award | ICRA Conference Editorial Board |
| Robert Gregg | 2018 | Bioengineering Undergraduate Teaching Award | University of Texas at Dallas |
| Robert Gregg | 2018 | Bioengineering Graduate Student Mentoring Award | University of Texas at Dallas |
| Talia Moore | 2018 | Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellow Award | University of Michigan Postdoc Association |
| Talia Moore | 2018 | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Innovation Grant | University of Michigan |
| Xiaonan Huang | 2018 | Best Student Poster | Materials Research Society Symposium on Materials for Energy Applications |
| Katherine Skinner | 2017 | Distinguished Leadership Award | U-M College of Engineering |
| Kira Barton | 2017 | Miller Faculty Scholar | University of Michigan |
| Kira Barton | 2017 | University of Michigan ME Department Achievement Award | University of Michigan |
| Leia Stirling | 2017 | Prize Paper Award | IFAC Journal on Nonlinear Analysis: Hybrid Systems |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2017 | First Prize Best Serious Game Award | Serious Games Society |
| Robert Gregg | 2017 | Technology Inventors Award Finalist | Technology Association for North Texas |
| Robert Gregg | 2017 | NSF CAREER Award | National Science Foundation |
| Yanran Ding | 2017 | IROS Best Student Paper Award Finalist | IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent |
| Christoforos Mavrogiannis | 2016 | Travel Grant | Intl. Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics |
| Dimitra Panagou | 2016 | CAREER Award | NSF |
| Dmitry Berenson | 2016 | IEEE RAS Early Career Award | IEEE RAS |
| Jason Corso | 2016 | Best Associate Editor Award | ICRA |
| Kira Barton | 2016 | Outstanding Young Alumni Award | University of Illinois |
| Leia Stirling | 2016 | Early Career Faculty Award | NASA |
| Leia Stirling | 2016 | Director’s Fellowship | DARPA |
| Leia Stirling | 2016 | CAREER Award | NSF |
| Lionel Robert | 2016 | Best Paper Award | ACM CSCW |
| patrícia alves-oliveira | 2016 | Best Design Paper Award | 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction |
| Robert Gregg | 2016 | Jonsson School Junior Faculty Research Award | University of Texas at Dallas |
| Robert Gregg | 2016 | IEEE Senior Member | Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers |
| Christoforos Mavrogiannis | 2015 | 2nd Place, Hackaday Prize | Hackaday |
| Christoforos Mavrogiannis | 2015 | 1st Place, International Innovation Award | Robotdalen |
| Jason Corso | 2015 | Google Faculty Research Award | |
| Kira Barton | 2015 | SME Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award | SME |
| Kira Barton | 2015 | NSF CAREER Award | NSF |
| Cynthia Chestek | 2014 | Technology Award | McKnight Foundation |
| Leia Stirling | 2014 | Young Faculty Award | DARPA |
| Robert Gregg | 2014 | Excellence in Biomedical Research Award | UT Dallas |
| Robert Gregg | 2013 | NIH Director’s New Innovator Award | National Institutes of Health |
| Dmitry Berenson | 2012 | Best Application Paper Award | CASE |
| Jason Corso | 2012 | Best Paper Award | ECDM |
| Jason Corso | 2012 | Winner Best Open Source Code 3rd Prize | IEEE CVPR |
| Leia Stirling | 2012 | Outstanding Reviewer of 2011 | IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control |
| Lionel Robert | 2012 | Best Paper Award | HICSS |
| Robert Gregg | 2012 | Career Award at the Scientific Interface | Burroughs Wellcome Fund |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2011 | Best Application Paper Award | IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering |
| Robert Gregg | 2011 | Best Technical Paper Award | CLAWAR Conference |
| Talia Moore | 2011 | Honorable Mention Graduate Research Fellowship Program | National Science Foundation |
| Jason Corso | 2010 | Young Investigator Award | Army Research Office |
| Dawn Tilbury | 2009 | Best Conference Paper Award | IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE) |
| Jason Corso | 2009 | CAREER Award | NSF |
| Leia Stirling | 2009 | Best Paper Honorable Mention Award | IEEE Computer Society |
| Leia Stirling | 2008 | Best Student Paper Award | IEEE Control Systems Society |
| Jessy Grizzle | 2003 | Ford Innovation Award | Ford |
| Jessy Grizzle | 2002 | George S. Axelby Award | IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control |
| Jessy Grizzle | 2002 | Ford Innovation Award | Ford |
| Jessy Grizzle | 2001 | Ford Innovation Award | Ford |
| Jessy Grizzle | 1997 | Fellow of the IEEE | IEEE |
| Jessy Grizzle | 1993 | Henry Russel Award | University of Michigan |
| Jessy Grizzle | 1993 | College of Engineering Teaching Award | University of Michigan |
| Jessy Grizzle | 1992 | Vehicular Electronics Paper of the Year | IEEE Vehicular Technology Society |