Speakers
Helen Greiner
Co-Founder & Chairman iRobot Corp.
Under Helen Greiner's leadership, iRobot Corp. (Nasdaq: IRBT) is delivering robots into the industrial, consumer and military markets. Helen is highly decorated for her visionary contributions in technology innovation and business leadership. She was named by the Kennedy School at Harvard in conjunction with the U.S. News and World Report as one of American’s Best Leaders, and was recently honored by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) with the prestigious Pioneer Award. She has also been honored as a Technology Review Magazine "Innovator for the Next Century," invited to the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader of Tomorrow, and has been awarded the DEMO God Award at the DEMO Conference. In 2003, she was named one of the Ernst and Young New England Entrepreneurs of the Year (with iRobot co-founder Colin Angle). Her 16+ years of experience in robotic technology includes work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Helen is a Trustee of the Museum Science, on the Computer Science Advisory Board of Worcester Polytechnic Institute; and is a Director of National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). She holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science, both from MIT.
Eric Grimson
Professor Eric Grimson is the Bernard Gordon Professor of Medical Engineering in MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a member of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, and Head of its Computer Vision Group. He also holds a joint appointment as a Lecturer on Radiology at Harvard Medical School and at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
He received a B.Sc. (Hons) in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Regina in 1975 and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT in 1980.
Prof. Grimson is currently the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. Prior to this position, he has served as Associate Department Head for Computer Science, and as Education Officer for the department.
Professor Grimson is a Fellow of the IEEE and of AAAI, and a recipient of the Bose Award for Undergraduate Teaching at MIT
Prof. Grimson has research interests in computer vision, and in medical image analysis. Since 1975, he and his research group have pioneered state of the art methods for activity and behavior recognition, object and person recognition, image database indexing, site modeling, stereo vision, and many other areas of computer vision. Since the early 1990’s, his group has been applying vision techniques in medicine for image guided surgery, disease analysis and computational anatomy.
Dean Kamen '73
Dean Kamen is an inventor, entrepreneur, and a tireless advocate for science and technology. He is the founder of DEKA Research & Development Corporation, where he develops internally generated inventions and provides research and development for major corporate clients. He holds more than 440 U.S. and foreign patents for innovative devices that have expanded the frontiers of health care worldwide. Some of his notable inventions include the first wearable insulin pump for diabetics, the HomeChoice™ portable peritoneal dialysis machine, the INDEPENDENCE® IBOT® Mobility System, and the Segway® Human Transporter.
Among Mr. Kamen's proudest accomplishments is founding FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), an organization dedicated to motivating the next generation to understand, use, and enjoy science and technology.
Mr. Kamen was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1997, received the Heinz Award in 1998, and was awarded the National Medal of Technology in 2000. In 2002 he received the Lemelson-MIT Prize, and was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in May 2005.
Ellen Purdy
Enterprise Director, Joint Ground Robotics
Ellen Purdy is the Enterprise Director, Joint Ground Robotics within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. As the Enterprise Director, she is responsible for implementing oversight of Unmanned Ground Systems and Congressional mandates with respect to policy ad funding. In addition to oversight of unmanned ground acquisition across all services, she is charged with managing and prioritizing $50M annual Budget Activity 4 and 5 funding, shaping ground robotics technology enablers, and strategic planning for ground robotics development within the Department of Defense. Prior to her assignment as the Enterprise Director, Ellen was assigned to the Program Management Office, Future Combat Systems Brigade Combat Team, where she served in a variety of positions. In these roles, Ellen was responsible for a 60 person organization and a $2.2B test program that included testing at the system of systems level and each of the 18 individual platforms plus the network that comprise FCS. She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of South Florida and a MS in Engineering Management from George Washington University.
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.eduLast modified: September 28, 2007 11:07:32