Dennis Hong, an associate professor with the Virginia Tech College of Engineering and director of the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa), will be a featured speaker at the Nov. 20 TEDxNASA event in Newport News, Va.
TEDis a well-known annual event where some of the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about. The TEDx events are smaller versions, held in a variety of locations. At its Web site, TEDxNASA organizers said their event will “spark deep discussion and connection in a small group.”
Hong will speak tomorrow from the Ferguson Center for the Arts on the Christopher Newport University campus. “I will be speaking about all the innovative robotics work we do at RoMeLa and how a spark of imagination in the middle of the night, inspiration from nature, and rigorous research lead to innovative robots,” Hong said earlier this week, via e-mail.
The event will be live-streamed over the Web on various formats. Among other speakers at the event is “Tuesdays with Morrie” author Mitch Albom.
The speaking engagement, for which Hong was invited, is the latest coup in a stellar year for the robotics researcher. Hong recently was named to Popular Science’s 8th annual Brilliant 10 . He also was promoted to associate professor of mechanical engineering and awarded the SAE International’s Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award .
Hong received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and master’s and doctorate degrees in mechanical engineering from Purdue University.