Google and Black in Robotics Doctoral Student Award (AY 2023-24)
The Google BIR Doctoral Student Award: Fall 2023
We are excited to launch the first Google BiR Doctoral Student Award! This award will provide 3-4 finalists $25k each to be used toward their graduate education. The award selection is based on academic merit, personal statements, and consideration of the applicant’s journey to the Ph.D.
Eligibility
Eligible students must be:
Currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program, and enrolled and active when the award is scheduled to be awarded (Fall 2023). The student must be in good academic standing with their institution to receive the award.
The Ph.D. program institution must be based within the United States and the student must reside in the United States when awarded.
The application process will require the submission of the following documents:
Personal Statement
Research Statement
Curriculum Vitae (Resume)
Transcript
Timeline for Degree Completion
Letter of Recommendation from the research advisor (preferred) or someone very familiar with the research of the applicant from their home institution.
Awardees will be given funds directly and will need to sign an acceptance form and waiver stating that they have read IRS Topic 421 on the taxability of the award: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc421
The award is tax free if :
You're a candidate for a degree at an educational institution that maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regularly enrolled body of students in attendance at the place where it carries on its educational activities; and
The amounts you receive are used to pay for tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at the educational institution, or for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses at the educational institution.
You must include in gross income :
Amounts used for incidental expenses, such as room and board, travel, and optional equipment.
Amounts received as payments for teaching, research, or other services required as a condition for receiving the scholarship or fellowship grant. (e.g. used for stipend)
Additional Aspects of the Award
Awardees will be provided mentors both within BiR and within Google to speak with periodically for their career trajectory planning
Awardees will be asked to allow posting of their profile picture and blurb on their research on the BiR Website for recipients of this award.
Awardees will be requested to provide annual (brief) updates on their progress and plans to help BiR and Google track the impact of this award.
Timeline
Applications will be collected through March 15, 2023
Decisions will be made in May
Students will be processed for the award in early Summer 2023 for Fall 2023 final award.
Fall 2023 Awardees
Myia Dickens
University: University of Notre Dame
Department: Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering
PhD Advisor: James Schmiedeler
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myia-dickens/
Research Aspirations:
Myia's graduate research focuses on the design and control of lower limb prostheses for enhanced mobility following amputation. Her current work focuses on prostheses fit, specifically understanding and quantifying the effects of powered prostheses on mobility and socket loading of individuals with below-knee amputation. Myia aspires to improve mobility in both assistive devices and legged robots.
Kenya S. Andrews
University: University of Illinois at Chicago
Department: Computer Science
PhD Advisor: Mesrob I. Ohannessian (https://uicdice.github.io/)
Website: https://leadershipportfolio.wixsite.com/kenyaandrewscv
Research Aspirations:
My interest lay in algorithmic justice, bias, and ethics, as an integral part of the design of decision-making algorithms in machine learning (ML) and human-robot interaction (HRI). Currently, I am working with collaborators at IBM Research to develop a novel, high-volume natural language processing (NLP) framework which detects character, testimonial, and framing injustice in news media text. I also helped develop a UI for editors to easily leverage our framework. Additionally, I am working on a project with Dr. Lu Cheng to further our recently published work, “Intersectionality and Testimonial Injustice in Medical Records”. This work analyzes how intersectionality can affect the visibility of testimonial injustice in medical records. Both of these projects have implications for understanding what attributes of a person can be unfairly used to affect decision-making and proper visibility for them. I have worked with my Ph.D. advisor Dr. Mesrob I. Ohannessian and our collaborator Dr. Tanya Berger-Wolf to further our recently published work, “Modeling Access Differences to Reduce Disparity in Resource Allocation”. Here, we created an equitable allocation policy which enables fair accessibility of COVID-19 vaccinations in vulnerable populations at various distribution levels (i.e. census block, city-wide, state-wide, and globally). This resulted in lowering the minimum age for vaccination allowances in Ohio, during age-restricted vaccine eligibility. Due in part to our work, more vulnerable people, particularly racial minorities, became eligible for vaccines earlier than planned in Ohio. These projects have worked towards accomplishing my main research goals of (1) Using machine learning algorithms to mitigate injustice amongst historically marginalized groups so that they have fair access to opportunities through increased visibility of those groups, (2) Working towards just algorithmic decision-making which is comprehensive for all people and encourages growth towards a thriving society for all people, and (3) Designing just and fair decision-making algorithms that drive Human-Robot Interaction.
TJ Thomas
University: Carnegie Mellon University
Department: Mechanical Engineering
PhD Advisor: Dr. Sarah Bergbreiter (MicroRobotics Lab: https://www.cmu.edu/mrl/)
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lenworth-thomas
Research Aspirations:
I am a second-year Mechanical Engineering Ph.D. candidate, and I conduct micro-robotics research in Dr. Sarah Bergbreiter's lab at Carnegie Mellon University. The goal of our work is to use a whisker-inspired, mechanosensor integrated with a small drone to detect and navigate toward incident airflows. This approach can be used to find gas leaks, improve high-altitude flight performance, and help navigation. In addition, this research has significant implications for the viability of mobile environmental sensing, which can help provide critical feedback about the spread of pollutants, viruses, or local weather conditions. Moving forward, I want to keep developing robotic systems to better understand climate change in an effort to help mitigate its effects.
Amber Young
University: University of California, Berkeley
Department: Mechanical Engineering
PhD Advisor: Hannah Stuart, PhD. Lab website: https://edg.berkeley.edu/
Website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberpyoung/
Research Aspirations:
My research interests include locomotion biomechanics, bioinspired robotics, and robophysics. I began my research journey as an undergraduate at Yale University, where I majored in physics, and studied the physics of animal locomotion from a neural, biomechanical, and robophysical perspective. I currently work with the Embodied Dexterity Group, where I am advised by Hannah Stuart, Ph.D., and Laura Treers, Ph.D. My current research project is a mole crab-inspired robot that can self-burrow into granular media, and collaborative, tethered robots for planetary exploration. I hope to continue contributing to the field of robotics by making them more dexterous for real-world environments.