DrIan Abraham

Engineering as a discipline is incredibly diverse and open-ended. This is especially true in robotics where students need to be well versed in mathematics, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, optimization, design, controls, statistics, and artificial intelligence. Becoming an expert in each of these sub-topics is virtually impossible within the relatively short time provided in undergraduate and graduate studies. Thus, for a student to excel in engineering and robotics, they need to be curious and independently seek knowledge to understand concepts and be driven to deeper intuition through self-study. This attribute is what draws me to robotics as a field of study; students need to diversity their foundations and specialize as problems present themselves. As an educator in robotics and engineering, my goal is to imbue students with the foundations to diversity and specialize in topics to excel in their career goals. My philosophy towards teaching, mentoring, and advising is to equip students with the ability to ``learn how to learn’’ and they will become independent investigators that achieve breadth and depth in any chosen venture.