Dr. Alexander Leonessa is a Program Director at the National Science Foundation. Dr. Leonessa manages the Dynamics, Control, and Cognition cluster within the Directorate for
Engineering's Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI). Additionally, he is responsible for overseeing the CMMI’s involvement with the Major Research Instrumentation program. Dr. Leonessa served as a professor at Virginia Tech in the Mechanical Engineering Department. During his tenure at Virginia Tech, he held courtesy appointments in several other departments, including Industrial Systems and Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering and
Mechanics. His research focus at Virginia Tech revolved around the design and control of
humanoid robots and exoskeletons, with applications in both rehabilitation and human augmentation.
The purpose of Dr. Leonessa's visit was to share research opportunities at the NSF, more specifcially in the field of Robotics.
The National Science Foundation aims to catalyze interdisciplinary science and engineering research to understand and build the human-technology relationship; design new technologies to augment human performance; illuminate the emerging socio-technological landscape; and foster lifelong and pervasive learning with technology. Dr. Leonessa
manages the Dynamics, Control, and Cognition cluster within the Directorate for Engineering's Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) and oversees the CMMI’s involvement with the Major Research Instrumentation program, including the Mind, Machine and Motor Nexus (M3X) Program. A distinguishing
characteristic of the program is an integrated treatment of human intent, perception, and behavior in interaction with embodied and intelligent engineered systems and as mediated by motor manipulation.
View the funding solicitation: Mind, Machine and Motor Nexus (M3X)
If you missed his visit, here is a link to the recorded Zoom Meeting.
The Mind, Machine and Motor Nexus (M3X) Program supports fundamental research that explores embodied reasoning as mediated by bidirectional sensorimotor interaction between human and synthetic actors. For the purposes of this program, embodiment is defined as the capacity to interact with physics-based environments.
Program Contacts:
Alexander Leonessa m3x@nsf.gov 703-292-2633
Alexandra Medina-Borja m3x@nsf.gov 703-292-7557
David Mendonca m3x@nsf.gov 703-292-8360
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