President Obama Honors Young Scientists

On July 9, the White House announced the names of 100 young scientists - recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. The award, established in 1996 by President Clinton, is the highest honor young researchers can receive for the achievements in the early stages of their careers. Winning scientists and engineers will receive their awards in the fall at the White House ceremony.

One of those who will visit Washington this fall, is Dr. Robert Wood from the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Dr. Wood's research interests spread from mobile and fixed microrobotics, micro air vehicles, biomimetic systems, composite materials for microrobotic applications, to surgical robotics, sensors and actuators. But he also teaches undergraduate students, introducing them to the fundamentals of robotics - with a little help from Quanser and its 5 DOF Open Architecture Robot. "...the robotics course was a hit!" Dr. Wood told us in 2007 about his 'Introduction to Robotics'. "The students seemed to get a great deal of insight from programming the arm to do various tasks." And you can see that the students had a lot of fun.

Everyone at Quanser congratulates Dr. Wood on being honored by President Obama. This is an amazing achievement that is well deserved. We wish Dr. Wood continued success in his research and teaching. In President Obama's words "With their talent, creativity and dedication ... they will lead their fields in new breakthroughs and discoveries and help us use science and technology to lift up our nation and our world."