The Black Scholars Index » I Got Tenure!

Dr. Chad Jenkins: Associate Professor of Computer Science, Brown University

Leshell Hatley — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 10:48:13 +0000

Dr. Chad Jenkins was recently promoted and granted tenure within the Computer Science Department at Brown University. The Department announced the promotion of Chad Jenkins to Associate Professor with tenure, effective July 1, 2010.

“Chad’s promotion recognizes his outstanding research work, innovative teaching, and exemplary service,” said Department Chair Roberto Tamassia.

Education

Dr. Jenkins earned his B.S. in Computer Science and Mathematics at Alma College (1996), M.S. in Computer Science at Georgia Tech (1998), and Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Southern California (2003). Prof. Jenkins was selected as a Sloan Research Fellow in 2009.

Awards

Dr. Jenkins was selected as a Sloan Research Fellow in 2009. He is a recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) for his work in physics-based human tracking and of a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for his work on robot learning from multivalued human demonstrations. He also received Young Investigator awards from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) for his research in learning dynamical primitives from human motion and from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) for his work in manifold learning and multi-robot coordination.

Research

Dr. Jenkin’s research addresses problems in robot learning and human-robot interaction, primarily focused on robot learning from demonstration, as well as topics in computer vision, machine learning, and computer animation. Videos of Chad’s current research work can be found on the YouTube channel of the Brown Robotics Group. Visit http://brown-robotics.org to learn more about Dr. Jenkin’s Robotics Lab at Brown University.

Prof. Jenkins’ work strives to address three basic questions. First, how can we capture data from the world that is representative of human performance? Second, how can machine learning and data analysis be used to extract dynamical structure from performance data? Lastly, how can we utilize learned dynamics for building autonomous robot controllers and perception mechanisms?

His previous efforts were mostly geared towards humanoid robotics with respect to learning primitive behaviors for robot control through imitation. More generally, he addresses perception, control, and learning issues at the intersection of robotics, computer vision, computer animation, machine learning and interactive systems.

Author

In 2009, Chad co-authored Creating Games: Mechanics, Content, and Technology with Brown CS alum Morgan McGuire. He has also authored chapters for several other books, including Data-Driven 3D Facial Animation, Human-Robot Interaction and From Motor to Interaction Learning in Robots.

“I consider myself very fortunate to be a part of the Computer Science Department at Brown,” said Chad. “My promotion is both a reflection of the supportive culture and community spirit of the department as well as the hard work of the students and post-docs who have been in my group. I look forward to continued success at Brown, especially with our new robotics lab space in the CIT building.”

Ayanna Howard receives NSBE's 2009 Torch Award

Leshell Hatley — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:27:33 +0000

Dr. Ayanna Howard

Dr. Ayanna Howard is the first tenured African-American woman to obtain tenure in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Georgia Tech. She is the Director of the HumAnSLab (Human Automated Systems Lab). She has a B.S. in Computer Engineering from Brown University, a Master’s and Doctorate in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from Claremont Graduate University.

Her area of research is centered around the concept of humanized intelligence, the process of embedding human cognitive capability into the control path of autonomous systems. This work, which addresses issues of autonomous control as well as aspects of interaction with humans and the surrounding environment, has resulted in over 60 written works in a number of projects – from autonomous rover navigation for planetary surface exploration to intelligent terrain assessment algorithms for landing on Mars.

To date, her unique accomplishments have been documented in over 12 featured articles – including being named as one of the world’s top young innovators of 2003 by the prestigious MIT Technology Review journal and in TIME magazine’s “Rise of the Machines” article in 2004.

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) has named Professor Ayanna M. Howard recipient of the organization’s 2009 Golden Torch Award.

Dr. Howard is the Project Lead on the SnoMote Project

Howard joined the faculty at Georgia Tech in 2005 after a 12-year “rocket-fueled” run as a robotics research engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has developed two educational software packages for artificial intelligence and robotics programming and a new graduate course on robotics control and techniques.

She is also the principal investigator of the Human-Robot Interaction Workshop series, which provides research experience to underrepresented undergraduate math, science and engineering high school and middle school students, and is the co-principal investigator of the Advanced Robotics Technology for Societal Impact (ARTSI) Alliance, whose goal is to increase the number of African Americans who study computer science and robotics and then go on to pursue graduate studies.

[ Newly_Tenured ] Dr. Sherri Frizell – Associate Professor @ Prairie View A&M

Leshell Hatley — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:10:53 +0000

Dr. Sherri Frizell

Dr. Sherri Frizell returns to the classroom this Fall as a TENURED Professor in the Computer Science Department at Prairie View A&M University, a goal most professors seek on university campuses. Dr. Frizell has a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Jackson State University and Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Software Engineering from Auburn University. Her education is complemented by research opportunities at the Department of Defense and IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. Her research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Educational Technology, Social
Computing, and Computer Science and Engineering Education. You can view her CV (resume) here.

She has published in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction and Engineering Education and has received over 1 million dollars in external funding. She also serves as co-advisor to the PVAMU chapter of the Society of Women Engineers and is very involved in programs to promote the academic and career success of females in Computer Science and Engineering.

Dr. Frizell is one of the Investigators (lead researchers) in a HBCU-UP, am empirical investigation of the success factors impacting African-American students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) at HBCUs. This research project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 2007, NSF awarded Dr. Frizell and her team were awarded $1Million over 3 years to identify and examine the factors that most significantly impact the academic success of African American students majoring in STEM disciplines at HBCUs.

Dr. Frizell was promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure earlier this month! The Black Scholars Index congratulates her for this exciting accomplishment.

HU Med Student Leads Free Clinic for Uninsured

Leshell Hatley — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:29:10 +0000

Raolat Abdulai, a third year medical student who began the effort more than a year and will serve as the clinic’s director.

Raolat Abdulia - Photo by Justin D. Knight

Howard University Hospital opened free medical treatment clinic for low-income, uninsured patients on Thursday, June 18, on the first floor of the hospital.

The New Freedmen’s Clinic is run, staffed and funded by medical students from the Howard University College of Medicine and is open from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. every Thursday.

Each Thursday, four medical students, overseen by two Howard University Hospital physicians, will treat patients by appointment and those referred to them by the hospital’s Emergency Department.

The clinic is largely the culmination of the dream of one student, Raolat Abdulai, a third year medical student who began the effort more than a year and will serve as the clinic’s director. Abdulai, 27, from Silver Spring, Md., got the idea for a free clinic in an email from instructor Dr. Christopher DeGannes that told her of a course being offered in Portland, Ore., on how to organize student-run clinics.

She attended the course and found overwhelming support for a free clinic when she returned to Howard.

“When we had a meeting to see who might be interested, more than 100 students showed up, and there were some faculty members as well,” Abdulai said.

She later was selected from more than 3,000 women who applied to a joint project between,O, The Oprah Magazine and The White House Project, a national nonprofit organization working to advance women’s leadership. The initiative, entitled Women Rule!, provided training for a select group of women leaders to bring their dreams to fruition.

Abdulai and 79 other women were selected to attend the three-day leadership-training workshop in New York City run by The White House Project. The women learned to write a business plan, to negotiate, build teams and organize themselves and others.

She and other students later visited and observed the workings of a student-run free clinic at Bread for the City, a non profit agency that provides food, clothing, medical care, legal and social services for low-income Washington residents.

“That’s when I really learned how much effort has to go into a project like this,” Abdulai said. “We needed attending physicians. We needed a space. We needed to learn lab skills and perfect our clinical skills in order to serve the patients. And I really learned it’s a hectic pace at these kinds of clinics.”

Undeterred by those obstacles, she and fellow students applied to the Association of American Medical Colleges for funding and received a $30,000 grant.

“After we got the grant, we finally realized that our dream would come true,” she said. “I’m so excited. I’m ecstatic. I can’t wait until opening day.”

Dr. Charles Mouton, chair of Department of Community and Family Medicine at the College of Medicine and advisor to the clinic, said the students’ efforts reflect the medical school’s mission.

“Howard University College of Medicine’s mission is to serve the underserved populations and reduce health care disparities,” Mouton said. “Our students are driven by that mission. That’s why they came here, because they want to serve people.”