Students

Current Postdoctoral Researchers

Current PhD Students

Current MS Students

  • Wyatt Driscoll
    MS Student, Electrical Engineering
  • Solomon Greene
    MS Student, Electrical Engineering

Alumni

Postdoctoral Researcher Alumni

  • Dr. Sangeun Choi (2003-2004, 2005)
    Currently: ASML, USA
  • Dr. Myun Joong Hwang (2008-2009)
    Currently: Faculty member at University of Seoul, South Korea
  • Dr. Ozkan Bebek (2008-2011)
    Currently: Faculty member at Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Dr. Russell Jackson (2015-2018)
    Currently: Lincoln Electric, USA
  • Dr. Taoming Liu (2017-2018)
    Currently: Superior Swift Technologies Pty, Australia
  • Dr. Ran Hao (2024-2026)
    Currently: Postdoctoral Researcher at TIMC Laboratory at Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France

PhD Alumni

  • Dr. Ozkan Bebek (2008)
    Dissertation: Robotic-Assisted Beating Heart Surgery
    Currently: Faculty member at Ozyegin University, Istanbul, Turkey
  • Dr. Suriya Natsupakpong (2009)
    Dissertation: Physically Based Modeling and Simulation for Virtual Environment Based Surgical Training
    Currently: Faculty member at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand
  • Dr. Zeynep Erson-Omay (2010)
    Dissertation: Development, Integration and Simulation of Multiscale Mathematical Models of Physiological Processes: A Software Engineering Perspective
    Currently: Faculty member at Yale School of Medicine, USA
  • Dr. Michael Fu (2011)
    Dissertation: Computational Models and Analyses of Human Motor Performance in Haptic Manipulation
    Currently: Faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, USA
  • Dr. Pasu Boonvisut (2013)
    Dissertation: Active Exploration of Deformable Object Boundary Constraints and Material Parameters Through Robotic Manipulation Data
    Currently: HG Robotics Company Limited, Thailand
  • Dr. Mark Renfrew (2015)
    Dissertation: Algorithms for Active Localization and Tracking in Image-Guided Robotic Surgery Systems
    Currently: Advanced Construction Robotics, USA
  • Dr. Russell Jackson (2015)
    Dissertation: Algorithms for Intelligent Robotic Surgical Systems
    Currently: Lincoln Electric, USA
  • Dr. Taoming Liu (2017)
    Dissertation: A Magnetically-Actuated Robotic Catheter for Atrial Fibrillation Ablation under Real-Time Magnetic Resonance Imaging Guidance
    Currently: Superior Swift Technologies Pty, Australia
  • Dr. Tipakorn Greigarn (2018)
    Dissertation: Kinematics, Planning, and Perception for Magnetically-Actuated MRI-Guided Continuum Robots
    Currently: KV Electronics Co Ltd, Thailand
  • Dr. Orhan Ozguner (2019)
    Dissertation: Visually Guided Robot Control for Autonomous Low-Level Surgical Manipulation Tasks
    Currently: Faculty member at Case Western Reserve University, USA
  • Dr. Su Lu (2020)
    Dissertation: Subtask Automation in Robotic Surgery: Needle Manipulation for Surgical Suturing
    Currently: Analog Devices, USA
  • Dr. Eser Erdem Tuna (2021)
    Dissertation: Perception and Control of an MRI-Guided Robotic Catheter in Deformable Environments
    Currently: Postdoctoral Researcher at Case Western Reserve University, USA
  • Dr. Ran Hao (2024)
    Dissertation: Interaction Control under Uncertainty for an MRI-Actuated Robotic Intravascular Cardiac Catheter
    Currently: Postdoctoral Researcher at TIMC Laboratory at Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France
  • Dr. Yuttana Itsarachaiyot (2024)
    Dissertation: Real-Time Kinematic Modeling of Magnetically-Actuated MRI-Guided Robotic Intravascular Catheter
    Currently: Faculty member at Mahidol University, Thailand
  • Dr. Thomas Shkurti (2026)
    Dissertation: Autonomous Suture Execution with a Laparoscopic Surgical Robot
    Currently: Adjunct Instructor at Case Western Reserve University, USA
  • Dr. Ridaa Ali (2026)
    Dissertation: Integration of Actuation, Imaging, and Control of a Magnetically Actuated, Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Robotic Catheter
    Currently: Postdoctoral Researcher at Case Western Reserve University, USA

MS Alumni

  • Nathan Wedge (2004)
  • Jason Rotella (2004)
  • Michael Fu (2005)
  • Venkata Kode (2005)
  • Paul Jacobs (2006)
  • Christian Miller (2007)
  • Jonathan Hearn (2008)
  • Mark Renfrew (2009)
  • Nathan Brown (2010)
  • Brandon Evans (2010)
  • Taoming Liu (2010)
  • Eser Erdem Tuna (2011) – Bilkent University
  • Viraj Desai (2016)
  • Matthew Swartwout (2016)
  • Li Shao (2017)
  • Ran Hao (2017)
  • Madison Hillyard (2021)
  • Ethan Shafer (2021)
  • Matthew Gaines (2021)
  • Sanjana Kamath (2022)
  • Tucker Guen (2022)
  • Diego Ronderos (2023)
  • Quan Nguyen (2023)
  • Noelle Nelson (2023)
  • Cole Mousa (2023)
  • Gabriel Foss (2024)
  • Marc Chase (2024)
  • Tobias Cowles (2025)
  • Kevin Harris (2026)

Undergraduate Student Researcher Alumni

  • Jason Rotella (2003)
  • Paul Jacobs (2003-2004)
  • Christian Miller (2004)
  • Svend Johanssen (2004-2005)
  • Christopher Shoemaker (2005-2007)
  • David Prabhu (2006-2007)
  • Tim Franke (2006-2007)
  • John Pao (2006)
  • Andrew Hershberger (2006-2008)
  • Robin Hu (2007-2008)
  • Michael Hornfeck (2007–2008)
  • Kenneth Hornfeck (2007–2008)
  • BarbaraJoy Jones (2008-2009)
  • Fang Zhou (2008-2009)
  • Akshaya Annavajhala (2009)
  • Deeptha Babu (2009)
  • Justin Lee (2009)
  • Joshua Dudik (2010)
  • Joshua Matzek (2010–2010)
  • Kumiko Sano (2010–2011)
  • John Adams (2011–2012)
  • Stephan Nieuwoudt (2011)
  • Conner Balin (2011)
  • Eric Young (2011–2013)
  • Lu Yu (2011–2011)
  • Sean Kruer (2011)
  • Chendi Jin (2012)
  • Andrew Ritosa (2012)
  • Eddie E. Massey, III (2012–2013)
  • Nathaniel Poirot (2013–2014)
  • Diego Waxemberg (2013–2013)
  • Marmeny Infante (2013)
  • Xueyu “Jack” Hu (2013)
  • Leah Feitl (2013-2015)
  • Haoran “Rick” Yuan (2013-2014)
  • Reinhardt “Kam” Criss (2014–2016)
  • Kaustubh Desai (2014–2014)
  • Jose Nazario (2014-2015)
  • Kristina Collins (2015)
  • Jean-Pierre Castillo (2015-2016)
  • Rebecca Frederick (2015-2016)
  • Mac Russell (2016–2017)
  • Steven Cady (2016)
  • Katherine Koning (2016)
  • Matthew Swartwout (2016)
  • Xinyang (Samuel) Xu (2017–2018)
  • Mengxi Wu (2017–2017)
  • Connor Wolfe (2017–2017)
  • Allison Cohen (2017)
  • Andrew Tarnoff (2018)
  • Hangxing Liu (2018–2019)
  • David Lituchy (2018–2019)
  • Juana Barrera Bayona (2018-2019)
  • Julian Narvaez (2018-2019)
  • Morris Lee (2019)
  • Gautham Divakar (2019-2021)
  • Sung Yoon Jung (2019–2020)
  • Tristan Greiner (2019–2020)
  • Michael Koltisco (2019–2020)
  • Sanjana Kamath (2019–2021)
  • Joseph Cressman (2020–2021)
  • Matthew Gaines (2020–2021)
  • Tucker Guen (2020–2021)
  • Jason Paximidas (2020–2021)
  • Diego Ronderos (2021)
  • Cole Mousa (2021–2023)
  • Joshua Soltz (2022–2022)
  • Isabella Devai Camacho De Oliveira (2023–2024)
  • Tobias Cowles (2023–2025)
  • Shaun Nunoo (2023–2024)
  • Adam Thompson (2023–2024)
  • Riddhi Srinivasan (2023–2024)
  • Rhyder Swen (2023-2025)
  • Chibunnam Onyedika (2024-2025)
  • Justin Fossum (2025)
  • Maya Carroll (2026)
  • Jennifer Morrison (2026)

About the MeRCIS Lab

The Medical Robotics and Computer Integrated Surgery (MeRCIS) Laboratory trains students in robotics, haptics, control systems, and human–machine interfaces.
Students work on interdisciplinary projects spanning electrical, computer, mechanical, biomedical, and systems/control engineering, computer science, and medicine.

Interested in Joining?

Prospective students are encouraged to review the Research page and contact me with:

  • CV
  • Transcript
  • Brief statement of research interests