Over the years I have been teaching both Mechanical Engineering courses (e.g. Product Design, Digital Manufacturing) and Computer Science Courses (e.g. Foundations of AI, Evolutionary Computation). This interdisciplinary perspective is the basis of robotics. My educational efforts take place in two arenas: Teaching core undergraduate and graduate courses; formal instruction takes place in the classroom, and informal in the lab, and (b) educating the broader public about the potential and excitement of scientific research. ​

COURSES TAUGHT AT COLUMBIA (2015-present)
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AND DATA SCIENCE

Courses taught at cornell (2001-2015)
Mechanical engineering and computer science

  • Fall 2014  Evolutionary Computation (CS5724), Graduate course covering evolutionary computation and applications, enrolment ~20
  • Summer 2014 3D Printing (CAU, approx. 50 participants)
  • Spring 2013,14 Mechanical Engineering Synthesis (MAE2250) on product design process, Required Introductory Sophomore course enrolment ~180
  • Fall 2012,13 Evolutionary Computation (CS5724), Graduate course covering evolutionary computation and applications, enrolment ~20
  • Fall 2009-11 Foundations of Artificial Intelligence (CS4700), Introduction to artificial Intelligence, enrollment ~100
  • Fall 2009-11 AI Practicum: (CS4701), project course in AI applications in physical robotics, enrollment 25
  • Fall 2007  AI Practicum: Robotics and embodied AI (CS473), project course in AI applications in physical robotics, enrollment 25
  • Fall 2002,4,6,8  Evolutionary Computation and Design Automation (CS750/ MAE650), Graduate course covering evolutionary computation and applications, enrolment ~25
  • Spring 2001-8 Mechanical Engineering Synthesis (MAE225) on product design process, Required Introductory Sophomore course enrolment ~120-140
  • Fall 2002,3,5 Data structures and algorithms for Computational Science (CIS409/MAE409), Advanced undergraduate / Beginning graduate course in, on algorithm design for non-CS majors, enrollment ~15
  • Fall 2001 Geometric Modeling and Computer Aided Design (MAE580), covering mathematical models of geometry and topology

Phd students graduated
mecahnical engineering and computer science

  • Jeff Lipton, 2010-2015, 3D printing, (Field: Mechanical Engineering).
  • Robert MacCurdy, 2009-2015, Machine Self Reflection (Field: Mechanical Engineering).
  • Jonas Neubert, 2008-2014, Programmable Matter (Field: Mechanical Engineering). Currently at Zoho.com
  • Ted Cornforth, 2009-2014, “Reverse engineering dynamical systems”, (Field: Computational Biology)
  • Daniel Ly, 2009-2013, Automated Telescience (Field: Mechanical Engineering). Currently postdoc at Stanford U.
  • John Amend, 2008-present, Jamming robotics: Programmable Phase Transition Materials (Field: Mechanical Engineering). Currently: Founder and CTO of Empire Robotics, Inc.
  • Jonathan Hiller, 2006-2011, Digital Manufacturing (Field: Mechanical Engineering). Currently Director of Engineering at Modular Robotics Inc.
  • Michael Schmidt, 2006-2010, Co-evolutionary System Identification (Field: Computational Biology). Currently Founder and CEO of Nutonian, Inc.
  • Michael Tolley, 2005-2010, Micro Self-Assembling Stochastic Robotics (Field: ME). Currently Faculty at University of California San Diego (UCSD).
  • Daniel L. Cohen, 2005-2010, 3D Bioprinting (Field: Mechanical Engineering). Currently Founder and CEO of 3DBio Inc.
  • Evan Malone, 2002-2008; Multimaterial Solid Freeform Fabrication of Active Systems (Field: MAE). Currently Founder and CEO of NextFab, Inc.
  • Viktor Zykov, 2003-2007, Damage Diagnosis and Repair in Robotic Systems (Field: MAE).