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Holly Yanco

Holly Yanco is an Associate Professor in the Computer Science Department at UMass Lowell, where she heads the Robotics Lab. Her research interests include human-robot interaction, sliding scale autonomy, sensor fusion and presentation, interface design, and situation awareness in the domains of assistive technology and urban search and rescue.  She received a Career Award from NSF in 2006. Yanco was the PI of the NSF funded Pyro Project, which was awarded the NEEDS Premiere Award for Courseware in 2005.  She has a PhD and MS from MIT and a BA from Wellesley College, all in Computer Science. Yanco is a member of the Executive Council of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).  She has received teaching awards from MIT and UMass Lowell.

Munjal Desai

Munjal Desai is a doctoral student and a graduate research assistant at UMass Lowell. His research interests are in the field of human-robot interaction, specifically studying the interaction between autonomy, trust, and situation awareness along with designing  intuitive interfaces that enhance user performance.

Munjal received his BE Computer Engineering from Mumbai University in 2004 and  his MS in Computer Science from UMass Lowell in 2007.

Dan Hestand

Dan Hestand is an nth (where n>8) year doctoral candidate in robotics at UMass Lowell working on developing an service-oriented architectural approach for robotic software. His goal is to complete his degree before both of his daughters graduate from college in 2 years.

Dan is a principal software architect with Foliage Software Systems, conducting architecture reviews and designing software architectures for a variety of clients. He received a B.S. in physics from David Lipscomb University in 1983 with mathematics and computer science co-majors, worked for 2 years on an M.S. in theoretical physics at the University of Tennessee Space Institute, received a B.S. in meteorology from Penn State, and an M.S. in computer science from UMass Lowell in 1999. He has worked as a physics researcher designing experiments to validate remote thermometry of rocket plumes, created procedures for forecasting solar and ionospheric events, done research in atmospheric radiative transfer, and written quite a lot of software for hire beginning in 1976. In his “spare” time, he plays bass for a blues-rock group called HeadUnit.

Mark Micire

Mark Micire is a doctoral student and graduate research assistant at the UMass Lowell. He is certified in multiple aspects of search and rescue, including hazardous material response, confined space rescue, and is a nationally certified fire fighter. He is active in the search and rescue community as a special operation volunteer for Hillsborough County Fire Rescue and technical search specialist for Florida Regional Task Force Three. Mark was a technical search operator during the World Trade Center Disaster, and most recently was a technical search leader for Florida Task Force Three during the Hurricane Katrina response in Biloxi, Mississippi. 

Kate Tsui

Kate is a second year doctoral student at UMass Lowell in the Department of Computer Science. She is specializing in robotics with emphasis in human-robot interaction and assisitive technology. Kate is a graduate research assistant developing visual control of a robotic arm for cognitively impaired wheelchair users.

Kate was the teaching assistant for 91.301 Organization of Programming Languages (2006-2007) and guest lectures for this class. She works in community outreach programs to encourage regional students to explore STEM majors and also serves as the coordinator for the Women in Computer Science group. Kate graduated from UMass Lowell's Computer Science program with her BS in 2004.

Erin Rapacki

Erin Rapacki is a Mechanical Engineering Masters student at UMass Lowell expecting to graduate in 2009.  She graduated with an BS in Industrial Engineering from Northeastern University in May of 2007.  During her time at Northeastern she had jobs testing the iBot wheelchair at DEKA Research & Development for FDA approval, product testing the new Roomba at iRobot as a mechanical engineering intern, designed and developed a human extraction and evacuation payload for the iRobot WARRIOR mobility platform as her senior design project, and worked in Northeastern's HCI lab as a mechanical liaison for miscellaneous projects.   She is primarily interested in the design cycle for products that have robotic characteristics and include robotic technologies.  Her research interests include the process for making robotic products usable for various populations, creating designs that are not intimidating for people who are unfamiliar with the technology, and expanding upon the current capabilities of robots to provide new services using simple and easy-to-learn physical interfaces.

Amanda Courtmanche

Amanda Courtemanche is an undergraduate research assistant in the UML Robotics lab, working with the Mitsubishi DiamondTouch.  Her current project involves creating a usable Java toolkit for the DiamondTouch and exploring applications that could apply this novel interactive surface to robotics.

In 2006, Amanda was one of the initial pilot members of the Artbotics program, and she mentored for the after-school program during her first semester before joining the lab.  She is in her second year working towards a dual Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.  

Bill Harmon

Bill Harmon is an Electrical Engineering undergraduate student at UMass Lowell. He specializes in embedded systems and all things analog.

In the summer of 2007 he worked at Haystack Observatory as an undergraduate research assistant, where he worked on system design, firmware control, and PCB layout of a satellite beacon receiver to be used for ionospheric science. In the spring of 2008 he was a lab assistant for the Assistive Technology Design session of UMass Lowell's TEAMS Academy. He has also worked in the past as a teaching assistant for UMass Lowell Designcamp in the Robotic Design and Electronics & Music sessions.

Bill is a musician in his free time, playing a variety of styles on a variety of instruments. He currently plays acoustic guitar in a Westford-based traditional New England contradance band called Au Contraire.

Phil Kovac

Phil is a student at UMass Lowell. He currently works in the Robotics Lab in the "I never turn in things on time" department, specializing in "How to not write your own bio." Also, as you can see in his picture, he loves wearing large clocks around his neck.

Adam Norton

Adam Norton works as the graphic designer for the Robotics Lab and is an undergraduate in the Art department at UMass Lowell. His current focus is performance and the usage of the human body in Art. He is also a mentor and core member of Artbotics, in which he was a student during the pilot program. 

Past Lab Members

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