Join & Contact

Working with us

Read this page before writing. It answers most of what prospective students ask, and it tells you what a useful application looks like.

Prospective students

Before you email

Funded positions are reserved for admitted PhD students based on availability of funding. Please do not email me requesting a research assistant position before you have applied to a U-M PhD program. You may notify me when you apply so I can look for your application, but please be patient because the admissions process takes time.

Undergraduate or M.S. research opportunities may be available without financial support; feel free to send a resume and cover letter describing your interests. Unfortunately, I cannot sponsor visas for internships for international students. Note that I cannot reply to all inquiries, as I receive multiple per day.

How to write a cover letter

Be exciting, concise, and realistic. Hit these key points in three to four paragraphs, and never go beyond one page.

  1. For what position are you applying? Who are you? What is your mission statement?
  2. What are you going to do, and why is this the perfect place to do it?
  3. Why are you the right person to do it?
  4. Closing formalities and reference information.

Doctoral applications are handled through the Robotics Department, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering & Computer Science graduate programs.

Facilities

Where the work happens

The laboratory occupies space in the Ford Motor Company Robotics Building on U-M's North Campus, with a motion-capture gait laboratory, an ambulation circuit for multi-activity testing, and benches for actuator fabrication and characterization. Explore the lab.

Exterior of the Ford Motor Company Robotics Building at the University of Michigan.

Ford Motor Company Robotics Building

2505 Hayward Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. The building houses the U-M Robotics Department and shared testing facilities, and places our laboratory alongside groups in legged locomotion, controls, and rehabilitation engineering.