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Feb.
24, 2003 |
Robotics Expert Appointed Head of Computer
Science Department
Jeffrey Trinkle, former principal member of the
technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, has been tapped
to chair the Department of Computer Science at Rensselaer. Trinkle
is widely recognized as an expert in robotics.
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Thomas Griffin |
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In his role as head of computer science, Trinkle
plans to strengthen its programs, improve the educational experiences
of its students, initiate one or more high-profile research projects
in computer science, and lead the department to greater international
prominence.
Trinkle earned a bachelor's of science in physics
from Ursinus College, another bachelor's of science in engineering
science and mechanics from Georgia Tech, and a doctorate in systems
engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. After receiving
his doctorate, Trinkle served as an assistant professor at the
University of Arizona in the school's systems and industrial engineering
department, and from there moved on to Texas A&M University
to teach in the computer science department. In 1998, he began
his career at Sandia, a national security research and development
laboratory.
Trinkle's research has focused primarily on robotics
and manufacturing systems. He has made substantial contributions
in the areas of grasp synthesis, fixture design, motion planning,
manipulation planning, and time-stepping methods for multibody
systems with intermittent contact. His doctoral thesis dealt with
robotic grasping and the automatic planning of dexterous manipulation
tasks.
His work has appeared in several top journals,
including the Journal of Applied Mechanics, International
Journal of Robotics Research, and Mathematical Programming.
Outside of teaching, Trinkle is also actively
involved in writing and speaking about robotics and rigid-body
dynamics. He said he hopes his work will help reinvigorate collaborations
between mathematicians, scientists, and engineers.
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