Judges for the 2002 Tennessee State Tournament

Dr. Stephen Canfield - Robot Design Award

Dr. Stephen Canfield received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech, in 1997.   Currently, Dr. Canfield is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tennessee Technological University.  He teaches courses in kinematics and dynamics of machinery, robotics, mechatronics and intelligent machines.  He and his students are involved in research for compliant spatial manipulators, mobile climbing robots, assistive mechanisms for children with disabilities, and genetic algorithms for synthesis of compliant mechanisms.

Dr. Warren Dixon - Robot Design Award

Dr. Dixon received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1994 and 2000, respectively, from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clemson University and his M.E. degree in 1997 from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of South Carolina. After completing his doctoral studies he was selected as an ORNL Eugene P. Wigner Fellow where he currently works in the Robotics Group of the Engineering Science and Technology Division. Dr. Dixon has written over 50 technical publications including several robotics and controls books.

Mr. Stephen Killough - Robot Design Award

Mr. Killough is a development staff member at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Engineering Science and Technology Division. He holds electrical engineering degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Tennessee. At ORNL, Mr. Killough has worked with robots and industrial computers for working in hazardous waste sites. He is a member of the IEEE and has two patents, an RD100 award, and a Discover Magazine award.

Dr. Reid Kress - Robot Design Award

Dr. Reid Kress received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1988 from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Currently, Dr. Kress is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Previously, he was the Telerobotic Systems group leader for the Robotics and Process Systems Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Dr. Kress has interests in the design, simulation, and control of robotic and teleoperated manipulators in hazardous environment applications.

Dr. Lonnie Love - Robot Design Award

Dr. Love earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology in 1995. Dr Love has been on the research staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory since 1995, conducting research in human amplification, ship motion compensation, learning control, tele-robotics, micro-assembly and smart and adaptive fluidic systems. He presently holds two patents and has over 30 publications.

Dr. Lynne Parker - Robot Design Award

Dr. Parker joined the faculty of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville as Associate Professor in August 2002. She also holds an appointment as Adjunct Distinguished Research and Development Staff Member in the Computer Science and Mathematics Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she worked as a full time researcher for several years. Dr. Parker received her Ph.D. degree in computer science in 1994 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), performing her research on cooperative control algorithms for multi-robot systems in MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. She received her M.S. degree in computer science from The University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and her B.S. degree in computer science from Tennessee Technological University. Dr. Parker is a leading international researcher in the field of cooperative multi-robot systems. She has published over 60 articles in the areas of mobile robot cooperation, human-robot cooperation, robotic learning, intelligent agent architectures, and robot navigation.

Paige Stafford - Robot Design Award

Paige Stafford received her Masters Degree in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville in 2002.  She currently works at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Networking and Computer Technologies Division.  Her work focuses on network-related business applications such as the Network Registration System.  She designs and implements database (ORACLE, mySQL) driven web applications, and manages the network services, DNS and DHCP. Her preferred programming tools include C, Perl, shell scripts, HTML, and JavaScript.

Dr. Venu Varma - Robot Design Award

Dr. Venu Varma received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1993. From 1993-2001, he has been with the Robotics and Process Systems Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and works in the kinematics, mechanical design, dynamics and control aspects of robot development. Currently, he is a member of the Nuclear Science and Technology Division at ORNL. His current interests are in the area of piezoelectric and shape memory alloy actuator development.

Ms. Valerie Birch - Research Presentation Award

Valerie Birch is a senior planner with the Nashville office of Parsons Brinckerhoff. She has a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Tech and an undergraduate degree in Physical Geography from Salisbury University. During her more than 12 years in the planning field, she has worked on a variety of projects ranging from environmental impact studies to community planning. Her primary focus is environmental planning.

Mr. Rick Gregory - Research Presentation Award

Mr. Gregory is a 1976 graduate of Tennessee Technological University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology. He began working as a community planner for Wilson County Lebanon Watertown in 1983 and became director of Planning for Wilson County Lebanon Watertown in 1986. Since 1999 he has been the Planning Director for the City of Lebanon, Tennessee since 1999.

Mr. Aaron Holmes - Research Presentation Award

Mr. Holmes is a 1997 graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Studies as well as a 1999 graduate with a Masters of Science in Planning. He became the Assistant Planner for the Rutherford County Planning Department in August of 1999.

Mr. Stephen Tocknell - Research Presentation Award

Stephen Tocknell, AICP, is the president of the Tennessee Chapter of the American Planning Association. Since 1982 he has been the principal of Tocknell & Associates, which provides transportation planning consulting services to local governments within and around the Nashville area.

Mr. Craig Bradley - Teamwork Award

Craig Bradley is a development engineer and project manager at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the Remote Systems Group.  He has over 25 years experience in leading development projects for remotely operated and robotic equipment.  Some of the equipment he has helped develop include, nuclear fuel handling and dismantling equipment, a radioactive waste transport cart, and a remotely controlled robotic arm for reloading Patriot missiles.  He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, and is a registered Professional Engineer in Tennessee.

Mr. Howard Harvey - Teamwork Award

Mr. Harvey, retired since 1998, has over 45 years of experience in the design and operation of remote facilities, equipment, and manipulation systems. In 1981, he became the Vice President of production at REMOTEC. Mr. Harvey's years of experience in senior management and on numerous engineering design teams has taught him the importance of teamwork.

Dr. Stephen Stow - Teamwork Award

Dr. Stephen Stow holds a Ph.D. in geochemistry from Rice University and previously taught geology at the University of Alabama. Since 1980, Dr. Stow has been employed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has performed considerable geochemical and petrologic research and published papers on volcanic systems.

Mrs. Katie Vandergriff - Teamwork Award

Mrs. Vandergriff received her B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University in 1987. Currently, she is president of MK Technologies Corporation, a service firm specializing in mechanical engineering and machine design. Prior to joining MK Technologies, she spent fourteen years at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory as a project manager in the Robotics and Process Systems Division and was named one of ORNL's Pioneering Women. She is a member of the National Association of Female Executives, and received the Outstanding Leader and Advocate Award from the Association of Women in Science.

---

The FIRST LEGO League Tennessee State Tournaments are co-sponsored by UT-Battelle and the Tennessee Technological University.