Mahdi
Email
mmaghelih@wpi.edu
Office
Unity Hall, Room 285
Affiliated Department or Office
Mechanical Engineering
Education
PhD Mechanical Engineering Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) 2013
MS Mechanical Engineering Tarbiat Modares University 2009
BS Mechanical Engineering Isfahan University of Technology 2006

I genuinely enjoy teaching and interacting with students. I am both an instructor and a researcher at heart and believe that teaching and research are complementary as they advance one another.

Teaching: As an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Robotics Engineering Department at WPI, I teach a range of courses, including Kinematics, Dynamics, and Controls courses in both undergraduate and graduate levels. I do believe that teaching entails much more than merely instructing and imparting knowledge on how to solve particular problems related to particular topics. I try to teach concepts first making sure that students understand why they are doing what they are doing, and I enjoy showing students how to tackle new problems, that they have never encountered before, through critical thinking skills.

Research: My expertise fall under Legged and Parallel robots. I received my Ph.D. from WPI in 2013 with the focus on reactive stability of hexapod walking robots. I have developed and oversaw developing different types of Legged, parallel, wheeled, and soft robots during the last 15 years. I enjoy helping students with their research projects where they apply their in-class knowledge and skills to take on new challenges using robotic systems in the real world. Majority of my current MQP projects concentrate on the convergence of Robotics and Manufacturing technologies as I found my way to robotics through Mechanical and Manufacturing disciplines.