Katherine Kuchenbecker: Class of 1940 Bicentennial Term Chair |
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Provost Vincent Price and Vice Provost for Faculty Anita Allen are pleased to announce the appointment of Katherine Kuchenbecker as the Class of 1940 Bicentennial Term Chair.
Dr. Kuchenbecker is associate professor of mechanical engineering & applied mechanics in Penn’s School of Engineering & Applied Science. She is a world-renowned expert in haptic (touch-based) interactions and interfaces, which enable a user to touch virtual objects and distant environments as though they were real and within reach. Her research focuses on improving the realism and tactile quality of touch-based virtual interactions and interfaces, especially through such applications as robot-assisted surgery, stroke rehabilitation and personal robots, which are advancing new opportunities for interactions among humans, computers and machines.
Director of the Haptics Group at Penn, Dr. Kuchenbecker previously served as the Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation and has received both the Lindback Award, the highest University-wide award for distinguished teaching (Almanac April 15, 2014), and the Trustees Council of Penn Women Award for Undergraduate Advising in 2015. She was named one of the 2010 “Brilliant Ten” by Popular Science magazine and received Early Career Awards from both the National Science Foundation and the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers.
Dr. Kuchenbecker earned her PhD (2006), MS (2002) and BS (2000) in mechanical engineering, all from Stanford University.
The Class of 1940 Bicentennial Term Chair was established by the Class of 1940 at its 50th reunion to recognize outstanding young professors. It rotates among the four undergraduate schools for five-year terms. It has been held most recently by Philip Nichols of Wharton, Julie Fairman of Nursing and Thomas Sugrue of SAS.
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