About

Where I am Now

I am currently doing a PhD at Penn in the Rehab Robotics Lab, part of the GRASP Lab. I live in Philly with my fiancé, our dog Abita, and our cat Diana.

Where I am Going

My goal long term is to stay in academia doing research and teaching as a professor. I really want to have the academic freedom afforded by academia and to be on the cutting edge of technology. I also really enjoy teaching. So on whole, this seems like a great route for me. Eventually I hope to be able to collaborate across the spectrum with other researchers and industrial partners.

My Interests

Currently, my primary interest is in robotics. Robotics is of course incredibly broad, but in general requires a synthesis of mechanics, algorithms, computation, advanced models, etc... The complexity of bringing these elements together is fascinating to me. For a long time, my primary interests laid in medical device design and manufacture along with Health IT. My research blends these two interests together. I am working to understand how social robots can be used in telepresence rehab interactions. Down the road, I would like to broaden back out and look at robots in manufacturing and space as well. I find I am generally most interested in how robots interact with people, which is going to become more relevant, in more fields, over the coming years.

Some About My Past

I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. I went to Trinity Episcopal School from 2nd through 7th grade and then Jesuit High School for 8th grade. My family moved to Acworth, Georgia right before I started High School. I attended Kennesaw Mountain High School, where I was very active in the student Government. I then studied Chemical Engineering for a year at Auburn University before transferring to Georgia Tech in the fall of 2012. I graduated from Georgia Tech with a Bachelor’s of Science in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Computer Science. I then spent some time working at Georgia Tech in the IRIM Tech Transition Lab.

Hobbies

I love sailing, which I currently do at Liberty Sailing Club and live music. I also love creating, that can be designing and building something from metal or wood, writing code, or cooking (I am up to 3 grills and a smoker).