My interests lie in exploring the assistive and rehabilitative uses of robotics.

My doctoral project, advised by Dr. Joel Burdick, is motivated by the needs of neural prostheses -- that is, robotic limbs people can control with thought alone. For these devices, tapping into and holding useful brain signals for years at a time poses an enormous barrier. Our approach consists of implanting a small robotic device (and accompanying control algorithm) with many individually-motorized electrodes that each autonomously locate, isolate, and track a neuron for long periods of time. To further complicate matters, we wish to find signals only from neurons dedicated ("tuned") to a particular task, say controlling an "arm reach." While the primary aim of such technology is for a neural interface for neuroprostheses, such a device may also advance the state-of-the-art experimental techniques for electrophysiology. This work is accomplished in collaboration with the neurobiology lab of Dr. Richard Andersen.

For more detail on this project, see our project page (coming soon; for now go here).

• BS Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 1997
• MS Mechanical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, 2005
• PhD expected in 2008

Now, the least humdrum of my hobbies include camping, waterskiing, basketball, traveling (PhD stipend permitting), and building things with my wife (the architect) for our home.

Prior to coming to Caltech, I worked for several years in the enterprise software industry. Most of this time I was a senior product manager for a web-based collaboration application (think online project workspaces and the ill-named field of "knowledge management").

I continue some attempts to engage in and build community at Caltech in the following roles:

• Co-president, Neuromorphic Engineering Student Society
• President, Society of Professional Students (all ME, CE, and AM students)