… and other ponderings in 11th-dimensional space

Awards, Honors & Distinctions

Recent Awards

  • Inducted to the 2016 Associate Fellow Class of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) for notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences, or technology of aeronautics or astronautics
  • 2015 NASA Space Act Award for the development of a significant scientific or technical contribution, Robonaut 2 (R2) MSC-CC-001, that has been determined to be of value in the conduct of an aeronautical or space activity of NASA
  • 2015 NASA Government Invention of the Year for 2014 for Robonaut 2 (R2), NASA’s first humanoid robot in space. R2 technologies have resulted in 39 issued patents, with several more still under review. R2 was launched up to the International Space Station (ISS) on 2/24/2011 as part of the STS-133 mission, fulfilling a 15-year dream to put a humanoid robot into space. The humanoid dexterous robot platform R2 was jointly developed by NASA and General Motors under a cooperative Space Act Agreement to develop a robotic assistant that can work alongside humans, whether they are astronauts in space or workers at GM manufacturing plants on Earth.
  • 2015 Dynetics Presidential Medal for contributions to the Open Architecture for Telemetry and Instrumentation System (iOATIS) program
  • 2014 NASA Johnson Space Center Top 10 Award for Robonaut 2 (R2)
  • 2013 AIAA Space Automation and Robotics Award in recognition of the Robonaut 2 (R2) Development Team’s pioneering technical achievement and advancement of humanoid dexterous robotics for human space exploration.
  • 2013 IEEE Huntsville Section Outstanding Engineer Award for significant contributions as a member of the IEEE

2011

  • Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer for Robonaut 2 (R2), a state-of-the-art highly dexterous robot jointly developed by NASA and General Motors that is capable of working side-by-side with people.
  • NASA Exceptional Space Act Award for the development of a significant scientific or technical contribution on the Robonaut 2 Software, that has been determined to be of exceptional value in the conduct of an aeronautical or space activity of NASA
  • NASA Johnson Space Center’s Exceptional Software Award to the Robonaut 2 Team for exceptional software efforts and outstanding dedication in the discipline of software development and engineering which contribute to the success of the JSC mission. R2 was launched up to the International Space Station (ISS) on 2/24/2011 as part of the STS-133 mission, fulfilling a 15 year dream to put a humanoid robot into space. The humanoid dexterous robot platform R2 was jointly developed by NASA and General Motors under a cooperative Space Act Agreement to develop a robotic assistant that can work alongside humans, whether they are astronauts in space or workers at GM manufacturing plants on Earth.
  • GM R&D Charles L. McCuen Special Achievement Innovation Award for extraordinary technical accomplishments in the design and development of the GM-NASA world’s most dexterous, anthropomorphic robot, Robonaut 2 (R2)
  • GM Master Inventor Milestone Award for achieving more than 20 significant intellectual property contributions (Patents Issued & Trade Secrets)
  • NSERC Collaborative Research Grant on Collaborative, Human-focused, Assistive Robotics for Manufacturing (CHARM)

2010

  • IEEE Robotics & Automation Early Career Award for pioneering the use of diagnostics and prognostics research in large-scale industrial robotics and automation applications
  • GM R&D MSR Lab. Technical Titan Award for enhancing GM R&D’s technical reputation
  • GM R&D MSR Lab. Prestige Promoter Award for FIRST Robotics mentoring activities

2009

  • Achieved Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification from PMI

2008

  • GM “Boss” Kettering Award for Data-Driven Performance Improvement at Orion Assembly
  • GM “Boss” Kettering Award for Plant Floor Event and PLC Communications Architecture
  • GM R&D Charles L. McCuen Special Achievement Innovation Award for extraordinary technical accomplishments using Data-Driven Supervisory Control for Performance Improvement at the Orion Assembly Plant
  • GM Spontaneous Recognition Award for going above the call of duty while working at the Lake Orion Assembly Facility in support of the Maintenance Toolbox project
  • GM Inventor Milestone Award for a number of intellectual property contributions to GM
  • GM Intellectual Property Gold Award for receiving 6 Patents/Trade Secrets in 1 year

2007

2006

  • GM “Boss” Kettering Award for the Emulation for Virtual Validation of Controller Logic
  • GM “Boss” Kettering Award for the Maintenance Toolbox Development for GMPT Plants. This award is GM’s highest technical honor; it recognizes teams from every region of the globe who have developed truly outstanding inventions or innovations which have provided identifiable and substantial benefit to GM; it also conferred a significant monetary prize
  • GM Chairman’s Honors Award for outstanding achievements on the Virtual Control Logic & Hardware Design Validation for the Lansing Delta Township’s Assembly Plant. It recognizes and celebrates the “Best of the Best” accomplishments of the GM global workforce toward achieving GM global business objectives, extraordinary teamwork, enthusiasm & innovation
  • GM R&D Center People’s Choice Award for “Most Creative” as recognized by Research & Development Center Colleagues
  •  GM R&D Charles L. McCuen Award for the development of a Decision Support Tool (DST) for Plant Floor Systems (PFS) maintenance and its implementation at GM Powertrain Plants
  •  Elected IEEE Senior Member

2005

  • General Motors R&D “Spark Plug” Award for work with global R&D collaborators

2003

2002

2000

1998

1991-1996

  • 8 times recipient of the U.D.F.J.C. E.E. Honor Scholarship. At most 1 award is granted per semester
  • 9 times recipient of the U.D.F.J.C. E.E. Honor Tuition-Waiver.