Awards

CU Boulder receives $1 million grant to fund minority PhD STEM students

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 20:54:10 +0000

CU Boulder receives $1 million grant to fund minority PhD STEM students Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/25/2022 - 14:54

Grace Wilson

The fellowship will provide tuition support, a $34,000 stipend for two years and a unique support system for 12 students to advance their PhD studies and research in computer science and other fields.

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Clayton Lewis receives ACM SIGACCESS award for innovation in computing accessibility

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Aug 2022 17:24:43 +0000

Clayton Lewis receives ACM SIGACCESS award for innovation in computing accessibility Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/16/2022 - 11:24

Grace Wilson

Clayton Lewis, a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder has been chosen to receive the 2022 Outstanding Contributions Award from the Association on Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group (ACM SIG) on Accessible Computing (SIGACCESS).

The SIGACESS Award "recognizes individuals who have made significant and lasting contributions to the development of computing technologies that improve the accessibility of media and services to people with disabilities."

The award is reserved for individuals who have long-term accomplishments or notable impacts through significant innovation. ACM is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society. Previous winners include such giants in the field as ACM CEO Vicki Hanson and Principal Investigator of AccessComputing Richard Ladner.

"People with cognitive disabilities are often needlessly excluded from using technology because it isn't designed with their abilities in mind. Clayton's research has been instrumental in showing how improvements in technology and policy can help people with cognitive disabilities participate equally in society." said associate professor in computer science Shaun Kane, director of the CU Superhuman Computing Lab.

Lewis revolutionized the accessibility of computer science by reducing the effort required to learn to use computing systems, and especially programming systems. His work has contributed to the development of widely-used user interface evaluation methods, including the thinking-aloud method and the cognitive walkthrough.

Since he joined CU in 1984, Lewis' dedication to teaching and access has helped CU Boulder become a center for education and research in the area of human-computer interaction.

Among numerous accolades, Lewis was named a University of Colorado President’s Teaching Scholar, a life title signifying the University’s highest award for teaching, and a Scientist in Residence at the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities.

Lewis has also worked as a consultant to the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation, part of the US Department of Education to help develop an initiative on cloud computing for people with disabilities.

Lewis retired in 2021. His impact on accessibility in computer science over the past 38 years continues to drive forward the computer science department's research focus on human-centered computing.

Lewis will officially receive the SIGACESS award at the ASSETS 2022 Conference in October, 2022.

Clayton Lewis, a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Computer Science at CU Boulder receives 2022 Outstanding Contributions Award from ACM SIGACCESS for his significant contributions to computing technologies that improve the accessibility of media and services to people with disabilities.

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Helping robots recover from failure: a Q+A with NASA graduate fellowship winner Gilberto Briscoe-Martinez

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Jun 2022 22:39:15 +0000

Helping robots recover from failure: a Q+A with NASA graduate fellowship winner Gilberto Briscoe-Martinez Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/27/2022 - 16:39

Grace Wilson

We all fail sometimes, but how we respond to those failures is important. Classical robotic failure mitigation focuses on trying to anticipate every way a system could fail and having an answer.

Gilberto Briscoe-martinez (PhDCompSci‘26) wants robots to be able to learn from their mistakes and continue persevering to finish a task as best they can. He was recently awarded a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research (NSTGRO) fellowship for his exploration of this topic, titled “Enabling Long-term Robot Autonomy through Adaptable Fault Resilience”. He is the first Computer Science P.h.D. student at CU Boulder to receive this award. The fellowship will fund Gilberto for 4 years and will allow him to collaborate with scientists at NASA research centers.

Alessandro Roncone, Briscoe-martinez' advisor and director of the Human Interaction and RObotics (HIRO) Group at CU Boulder, said "The NASA NSTGRO is one of the most prestigious fellowships awarded to graduate students in robotics at the national level. With this support from NASA, Gilberto will be able to not only advance the science of robotic fault resilience, but also understand how to transfer his discoveries to real systems, and, eventually, see his research deployed in space."

We asked Briscoe-martinez a few questions about his research and fellowship, here are his answers:

How would you describe this project to someone not familiar with your area of research?

Humans have an incredible, innate ability to compensate for an injury that we experience. If you’ve ever stubbed your toe, you’ve probably tried not to put weight on it without explicitly thinking about doing so. On the other hand, robots have an unchanging understanding of their physical selves. If anything breaks, even something as small as a piece of the robot’s gripper falling off, the robot is useless until a human can fix it. For NASA, this presents a problem. Robots will need to work reliably for months or even years on new space stations and future inter-planetary missions with few or no ways to fix themselves. My research will discover methods for these robots to compensate for injuries and wear they experience, as humans do, so they can continue to do their mission-critical work.

What does winning this fellowship mean to you?

For me, receiving this fellowship feels like a transition point. Until now, I’ve only used robotic technology developed by others, solving “engineering problems,” as my advisor likes to say. Now, I look forward to researching the ways that will push robotic abilities to the stars. The research I will be conducting through this fellowship is critical to enabling humans to go beyond the reaches of our planet. I am beyond excited to be at the forefront of space robotics.

How has it been working in the Human Interaction and RObotics (HIRO) Group?

My experience in the HIRO lab has been fantastic. The lab, as a whole, is focused on wholistically researching robotic systems. This enables unique collaboration opportunities between those working on the main research threads of robotic ability, physical Human-Robot Interaction(HRI), and Social HRI. My colleagues have been great inspirations because we have different outlooks, experiences, and research approaches. In addition, I believe the lab has a great work-life balance, where we are pushed to excel but can go out to ski on a snow day in the middle of the week.

What inspired your love of robotics?

My curiosity was first piqued when I took a middle-school robotics class after my school received a grant from LEGO to use their Mindstorm systems. I realized robotics would be a lifelong passion when I joined my high school robotics club. We competed in both the VEX and FIRST robotics competitions. By designing and building robots to complete many challenges, I realized that the only limits of robotic ability are the limits of our imagination. From those experiences, I was inspired to pursue the robotics research that I do today.

Any advice for folks not sure if STEM is right for them?

My advice for someone on the fence about entering STEM is to not be afraid to try it. If you’re thinking about it then that curiosity is already there which can turn into your life’s work. And it is important to remember that if it turns out that STEM is not right for you, switching majors, and even switching careers is something that many people successfully do.

Briscoe-martinez was recently awarded a NASA Space Technology Graduate Research (NSTGRO) fellowship. He is the first Computer Science P.h.D. student at CU Boulder to receive this award, which will provide him with 4 years of research funding and NASA collaboration in enabling long-term robot autonomy through adaptable fault resilience.

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