Vijay Kumar

Background

Kumar, Vijay was born on April 12, 1962 in Patna, Bihar, India. Son of S.R. and Hema Ramakrishnan. came to the United States, 1983.

Education

B. Tech., Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, May 1983

M.Sc., Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, March 1985

Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, September 1987.

Career

Assistant professor, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 1987-1993; associate professor, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, since 1993.

Achievements

• The Ohio State University Presidential Fellowship (1986) NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award (1991) Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Pennsylvania (1996) The Ferdinand Freudenstein Award for significant contributions to mechanisms and robotics 5th National Conference on Mechanisms and Robotics (1997) Best paper award, Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (2002) Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (2003) Kayamori Best Paper Award, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (2004) IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Lecturer (2005) Fellow, Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2005) IEEE Robotics and Automation Society Distinguished Award (2012) George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research (2013) Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award (2013) IIT Kanpur Distinguished Alumnus Award 2013–14, for his outstanding contributions to the area of control and coordination of multi-robot formations. The Joseph Engelberger Award by the Robotics Industries Association (2014).

Interests

• Avocations: music, running, biking.

Connections

Married Maneesha Altekar, November 6, 1988. Children: Priya, Sonia.

Father:

S.R. Ramakrishnan

Mother:

Hema Ramakrishnan

Spouse:

Maneesha Altekar

child:

Sonia Kumar

child:

Priya Kumar