Farshid Alambeigi, a PhD candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, was recently named a 2019 Siebel Scholar, an annual award that recognizes nearly 100 of the top graduate students nationwide in business, bioengineering, computer science, and energy science programs.
Siebel Scholars are selected for their outstanding academic performance and demonstrated leadership, and they receive a $35,000 award toward their final year of studies. The recently announced 2019 recipients includes five graduate students from Johns Hopkins University, including Alambeigi.
Alambeigi works in the Biomechanical- and Image-Guided Surgical Systems (BIGSS) Laboratory, led by Mehran Armand, from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. His research aims to equip orthopedic surgeons with dexterous, snake-like robots to improve procedures during minimally invasive surgery. With an eye on taking conventional, rigid surgical tools to the next level, Alambeigi has developed robots with integrated fiber optic sensors and tools that are flexible and situationally aware.
His research has led to more than 20 academic papers published in top journals; three licensed U.S. patents; a feature in The Wall Street Journal; and numerous academic awards, including the JHU/APL Independent Research and Development (IRAD) Award and the JHU-Coulter Translational Partnership Award. In 2017, Alambeigi led JHU’s team at the International Hamlyn Surgical Robotic Challenge in London, winning the Best Innovation Prize at the competition. He mentors Johns Hopkins undergraduate and graduate students, and since 2016 has organized and led the Johns Hopkins Robo Challenge for middle and high school students in Baltimore City. As founder and president of the JHU Iranian Graduate Association, he organized the 2018 Persian New Year Party and other professional and social events for Iranian graduate students at JHU.
“I am wholeheartedly happy and excited to become a member of this prestigious community,” said Alambeigi. “I believe this award is a testament to all of the help and support I have received from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Laboratory for Computational Sensing and Robotics, my supervisors, colleagues, and, of course, my family.”
See the full announcement in the Hub.