Ammachi labs had the honor of hosting Dr. Ron Lumia, Professor and Associate Chair, Mechanical Engineering Department, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque for a jam-packed one month visit. Dr. Lumia came with the purpose of guiding Ammachi Labs in starting its MTech in Robotic & Automation program. He brought in decades of experience in teaching & research, and used it to help the lab structure the course curriculum for the program. He worked with the PhD students in the lab in formulating thesis topics and gave them his guidance and motivation. On 4th January, Dr.  Ron delivered a talk to the faculty of all the schools in the Amritapuri campus on “Starting a Research Program” through which he encouraged budding researchers to publish papers and also gave an overview of the graduate education system in the US and how students are moulded to be experts in their research areas. He spoke about the research “algorithm” he follows that deals with the steps required in approaching any scientific problem and making fundamental contributions to science & human knowledge. He  also gave us valuable guidelines on how to write an effective funding proposal. On 7th January, Dr Ron delivered a talk to students about “Robotics: Large and Small” where he gave an overview of the robotics research undertaken at his lab. He later interacted with the students of the Amrita Robotics Club.

Dr. Ron and his wife Beverly said of their visit, “We had a great time. AMMACHI Labs provided a great experience.”

January 15, 2014
Amritapuri