We are pleased to welcome Dr. Jeremy D. Brown, who will join the Whiting School of Engineering in summer 2017 as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, a member of the Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, and a part of the Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics. Brown is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow for Academic Diversity at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is part of the Haptics Research Group at Penn’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, and Perception (GRASP) laboratory. He earned his PhD and MS degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan, as well as BS degrees in applied physics and mechanical engineering as part of the Atlanta University Center’s Dual Degree Engineering Program between Morehouse College and the University of Michigan.
Brown’s research seeks to develop novel haptic interfaces between humans and robotic systems with a particular focus on haptics in upper-limb prosthetics and minimally-invasive surgical robotics. At JHU, he sees the opportunity to expand into additional fields including rehabilitation robotics. His research sits at the intersection of engineering, biomechatronics, medicine, and psychophysics and uses methods from human perception, motor control, neurophysiology, and biomechanics.
At Penn, under the mentorship of Professor Katherine J. Kuchenbecker, Brown leads two research teams investigating novel haptic feedback methodologies and advanced training platforms for robotic minimally invasive surgery. At Michigan, under the guidance of Professor R. Brent Gillespie, he investigated haptic feedback of grip force for upper-limb prosthetic grippers. That work resulted in three refereed journal articles, numerous conference papers, and the best student paper award at the 2012 IEEE Haptics Symposium.
While at Michigan, Brown also developed a deep interest in engineering education. He took a course called “Teaching Engineering,” attended a conference on teaching methodologies and practices, taught a course with his advisor, and ran multiple engineering workshops for high school students. He hopes to develop a mechanical engineering course on human-robot interaction, which will include modeling human movement, human-in-the-loop control strategies and haptic feedbacks as topics.
Outside of research and teaching, you can find him frequenting local coffee shops, trying out new food and cocktail recipes, traveling, and spending time with his family. His wife, Ashley Brown PhD, a Professional Development Manager at McKinsey & Company, and their toddler son, Bradford, are also looking forward to joining him next year.