Pillsbury Wins SAMPE Student Leadership Award

Andrew Becnel SAMPE

The Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) selected Aerospace Engineering graduate student Thomas Pillsbury as one of 12 recipients of the SAMPE 2016 Student Leader Experience Award.

Pillsbury is a Ph.D. student in in the department performing research in the University of Maryland's (UMD) Smart Structures Lab. His work is focused on robotic manipulation employing lightweight, soft pneumatic artificial muscles (PMAs) for actuation.

Pillsbury received his B.S in aerospace engineering from UMD in 2012. His current research interests include robotics, soft actuation and biologically inspired design. Winning a National Science Foundation (NSF) Fellowship in spring 2014 allowed Pillsbury additional freedom to pursue his research interests in soft actuation for robotics.

The SAMPE Student Leader Experience Award sends student leaders to the SAMPE North America Conference and Exhibition to network with peers and industry professionals and increase their understanding of the Materials and Processes community.

Published April 29, 2016