Blankenship, Gil
Maryland Robotics Center
Robert E. Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices
BACKGROUND
Dr. Blankenship is Professor and Associate Chairman for External Affairs in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park. He is a member of the Applied Mathematics Faculty, a member of the Maryland Robotics Center, and a Core Member of the Fischell Institute for Biomedical Devices. He has held visiting positions with New York University, the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland, the US Department of Energy, and with Erasmus University, Rotterdam. His first academic position was with the Department of Systems Engineering, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio. He joined the faculty at the University of Maryland in 1978.
His research interests include applications of signal processing, nonlinear and adaptive control theory, networked control systems, and embedded electronics. His most recent research focuses on autonomous networked mobile robots and wearable sensor systems, especially for medical applications. He has published many papers and reports in these and related areas. His MS and Ph.D. students work at universities, research laboratories, and high technology companies around the world. Dr. Blankenship is a Life Fellow of the IEEE.
Entrepreneurship: Dr. Blankenship has founded several technology companies. The most recent is the Maryland Development Center, a MedTech Startup Studio in Baltimore that works to connect engineering and medical device development and commercialization. MDC has created several startup companies including Next Step Robotics that constructs robotic devices for treatment of foot drop in stroke and Sonosa Medical, which is developing a non-invasive device for diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.
HONORS AND AWARDS
• IEEE Life Fellow
- Stochastic and nonlinear control
- Adaptive control
- AI in engineering design
Congratulations to Our 2022 Undergraduate Department Award Winners
Each year, the department recognizes outstanding undergraduate student achievements.New undergraduate minor in robotics and autonomous systems
The Maryland Robotics Center will administer the program, which begins in Fall 2021.$100,000 investment from Amazon to power Clark School initiatives in diversity, robotics research and education
Beneficiaries include two Ph.D. fellowships in robotics, the Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering, a robotics capstone course, the Black Engineers Society and the Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers.Alumnus Profile: Pratik Gupta
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As Device Engineer at Maryland Development Center, Chris prototypes medical tools and robots as proofs of concept in early-stage developmentECE Names 2016-2017 Distinguished Dissertation Fellows
Five Electrical and Computer Engineering Ph.D. students were selected as ECE Distinguished Dissertation Fellows for 2016-17.TRX Systems to Exhibit at NSF's The Arc of Science in Washington, DC
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