Professional Service

• National Science Foundation. Panelist. 10/2023 - 10/2023
• National Science Foundation. Panelist. 02/2023 - 02/2023
• International Journal of Robotics Research. Role: Member. Executive Editorial Board. 01/2023 - present
• NIH Center for Scientific Review. Role: Member. Bioengineering, Technology, and Surgical Sciences (BTSS) Study Section. 07/2019 - 06/2023
• International Journal of Robotics Research. Associate Editor. 12/2017 - 01/2023
• IEEE Transactions on Robotics. Associate Editor. 10/2014 - 02/2020
• National Science Foundation. Role: Member. Second Roadmapping Workshop on US Medical and Healthcare Robotics, University of Southern California. 07/2012 - 07/2012
• IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Associate Editor. 05/2012 - 05/2012
• IEEE. Session Chair, IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems: Micromanipulation, San Francisco, September 2011. 09/2011 - 09/2011

Honors & Awards

• Distinguished Service Award: Outstanding Reviewer for the period 2015-2019. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 06/2020
• Finalist, Best ToH Short Paper Award. IEEE Haptics Symposium, 03/2020
• Best Paper Award in Medical Robotics. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 05/2017
• Outstanding Research Award for 2014. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Utah, 08/2015
• Finalist, Best Robotic Manipulation Paper Award, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2015. 05/2015
• Best Paper Award. IEEE Haptics Symposium, 02/2014
• Outstanding Teaching Award 2010-2011. Department of Mechanical Engineering, 08/2012
• Finalist, Best Video Award. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 05/06/2010
• Finalist, Best Medical Robotics Paper Award. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 05/06/2010
• Best Manipulation Paper Award. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 05/06/2010
• The paper "On Imaging and Localizing Untethered Intraocular Devices with a Stationary Camera," was a finalist for both the Best Paper Award and the Best Student Paper Award. IEEE Int. Conf. Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 10/21/2008

Internal Service

• College RPT Committee. Member, 08/2023 - present. College service.
• Civil and Environmental Engineering Chair Search Committee. Co-chair, 08/2023 - 03/2024. College service.
• Systems Engineering Search Committee. Member, 01/2023 - 03/2023. Department service.
• College RPT Committee. Member, 08/2021 - 12/2021. College service.
• Robotics Search Committee. Member, 01/2021 - 04/2021. Department service.
• Committee to Draft COE Policy on Post-tenure Review. Member, 09/2019 - 01/2020. College service.
• Executive Committee. Member, 08/2019 - present. Department service.
• Design and Manufacturing Faculty Search Committee. Chair, 10/2015 - 03/2016. Department service.
• Research Committee. Member, 08/2015 - 08/2016. Department service.
• External Relations Committee. 08/2011 - 05/2014. Department service.
• Seminar Committee. Member, 08/2010 - 08/2014. Department service.
• Strategic Planning Committee. Member, 06/2010 - 08/2019. Department service.

Outreach

• SuRGE: Summer Research for Girls in Engineering. In each summer of 2011 and 2012, I hosted one undergraduate and two local high-school girls for a 20-hour/week, 2-month research experience in my lab. 05/2011 - 08/2016

In the Media

• The Naked Scientist, What do we do with all of our space junk? 12/2022.
• MSN.com, Earth Could Have Saturn-Like Rings Made Of Space Garbage. 07/2022.
• Utah Business Magazine, This team may have figured out a way to cleanup space junk. 01/2022.
• Weekly Space Hangout, How We Can Clean Up Earth's Space Debris. 12/2021.
• Tech Briefs, A New Idea for Cleaning Up Space Debris: Magnet. 11/2021.
• Interesting Engineering, Engineers Find New Way to Clean Up Space Junk in Orbit. 11/2021.
• Sputnik, 'World's First Tractor Beam' Could Help Save Earth From Gaining 'Saturn Rings' Made of Space. 11/2021.
• People, Earth Is 'On Course' to Have Its Own Saturn-Like Rings Made of Space Junk, Say Researchers. 11/2021.
• Republicworld.com, Earth On Course To Have Its Own Rings Made of Space Junk, Warns US Professor. 11/2021.
• Yahoo Finance, Earth is 'On Course' to Have Its Own Saturn-Like Rings Made of Space Junk, Say Researchers. 11/2021.
• The Debrief, Earth 'On Course' For Saturn-Like Ring of Space Junk. 11/2021.
• The Byte, Professor says Earth is forming Saturn-like rings made of space junk. 11/2021.
• Physics World, Electromagnets could help clean up space junk. 11/2021.
• The Daily Mail, Put a ring on it! 11/2021.
• New York Post, Earth will have Saturn-like rungs 'made of space junk,' scientists say. 11/2021.
• The Salt Lake Tribune, Space pollution may soon give Earth its own rings. Has Utah team found a solution in magnets? 11/2021.
• Fox 13 News, Utah scientists come up with a better way to clean up space junk orbiting Earth. 10/2021.
• Capital Outlook, Spinning Magnets Could Help Clean Up Space Junk. 10/2021.
• KSL News Radio, Space junk clearing technology developed by U of U researchers. 10/2021.
• ABC 4 News, Space junk: U of U researchers want to clean up trash in outer space. 10/2021.
• Nature Podcast, Omnimagnets move non-magnetic objects every which way. 10/2021.
• PC Magazine, Research on magnetic capsule endoscopy featured. 09/2018.
• KUTV News, U: Virtual Reality Treadmill Helping Spinal Cord Injury Patients. This segment features the use of the Treadport for rehabilitation of patients with incomplete spinal-cord injuries. 02/26/2011. http://www.telerobotics.utah.edu/index.php/Researc...
• The Daily Utah Chronicle, Microrobots aid surgery . 04/20/2010.
• Jake Abbott interviewed on the "Science to go with the show" podcast accompanying the UEN-TV SciFi Friday movie Giant Spider Invasion. 01/15/2010.