I estimate that each year I respond to many hundreds requests from potential students and members of the media.  The information requested by each individual really falls into just a few categories, but writing individual responses has turned out to be very time consuming and repetitive, so I have organized this information into categories described below.  I also write over 100 letters of recommendation each year, so if you are looking for information related to letters of recommendation please refer to the " Letters of Recommendation..." link on my Home Page.

Most of the responses I give to students and members of the media relate to the fact that they don't have enough information, so what they are asking for does not make sense in the context of the real situation.  For example, many departments in the University of Michigan College of Engineering admit a very large number of students without telling them the real facts about getting support during their graduate studies.  In particular, Masters Students seem to have very unrealistic expectations.  Very little information is available for undergraduate students who want to develop the skills necessary for a research career.  Doctoral students frequently have not given serious consideration to the major career decision they are making by commiting to earning a Ph.D. degree, the uncertainty of a job in research, the opportunity cost of a Ph.D. degree, and the extremely limited career opportunities at universities for people who want to become a professor.  Members of the Media often have motivations naively incongruous with the core value system of modern science and education.  The information I will provide below may sound a bit harsh, but it is accurate to the best of my ability and I apologize in advance if it seems too abrupt.

To help you find the information that you require, I have organized the information as described below in the Table of Contents.

Table of Contents:

- Robotics Research: Interested students and Post-docs
- Undergraduate Students
- Masters Students
- Doctoral Students & Post Docs
- Laboratory Skills and Course Requirements
- High school, middle school, and elementary school students
- Persons seeking admission to the Biomedical or Mechanical Engineering programs at the University of Michigan
- Media (Regarding interviews for: News Papers, Magazines & Other Periodicals, Television, and Documentary Films)
- Tips for increasing the probability that I will be able to respond individually to your message
- Contact Information (How to contact Robert Dennis)
 
 
 

Robotics Research: Interested students and Post-docs:
MEETINGS ARE BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.  PLEASE DO NOT DROP IN.
At this time I restrict all of my robotics and biologically-based mechanical actuator research to the Biomechatronics Group at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT.  In order to be involved in this research, you must contact my colleague, Dr. Hugh Herr (hherr@ai.mit.edu), who is available full time at our laboratory at MIT.  Both Dr. Herr and I must interview you, but Dr. Herr will make the initial assessment of your suitability for this research.  I do not currently have, nor do I have plans for, robotics and biologically-based mechanical actuator research in any of my laboratories at the University of Michigan.  My research at the University of Michigan is strictly limited to Functional Tissue Engineering and Bioreactor Design.  Therefore, to be involved in this research, you must gain admission to the Doctoral Program in either Mechanical or Electrical engineering at MIT.

For additional hints, see the Laboratory Skills and Course Requirements section below.

Be prepared to do a lot of library research work, probably for a term or more, before actually beginning to do any research in the lab.  Also, be prepared to work for academic credit, not pay, as funds are not always available.  The training you will receive will be under the tacit assumption that you intend to do research for a living, and thus that you plan to continue on to get a Ph.D.  You may want to have a look at the “Doctoral Students” section below.

At some time in the future I will do my very best to provide research opportunities for Masters students.  I estimate that it will be several years before this is possible due to the nature of my research.  If you are deeply committed to doing research in this area I strongly suggest that you consider getting a Ph.D. (see below).

In general, I will only accept Doctoral students who have departmental support for their first year or two of graduate studies, or those who have already completed their Master’s degree.  A dual Master’s degree is preferable, one in a classical field of engineering, one in a biological area.  I will generally not support new Doctoral students who are working on their Master’s degree who do not currently have financial support.

Doctoral students & Post Docs should also be aware that there are essentially no industrial positions for individuals trained in my areas of research, and very few faculty positions.  I therefore feel it my responsibility to help you make a very early decision as to whether or not you would have any chance of success in these areas.  Entrepreneurial skills are a MUST!  In addition to a wide range of technical skills, to be successful you should have the following personal characteristics:
- An ability and desire to work more than 80 hours per week for the remainder of your life.
- A strong enthusiasm for hands-on research
- The determination to succeed under the most daunting and oppressive circumstances
- A very positive attitude
- The ability to manage many complex projects simultaneously
- The ability to communicate well in speech and writing

Also, you should be aware that due to the highly controversial nature of this research, which involves animal-machine hybrids and, of course, stem cells, you will constantly be at risk from extremist groups and individuals.  I have personally received many threatening messages, and one of my personal friends was a victim of the infamous Unabomber.  Animal rights groups are also an issue.  You must be prepared to deal with assaults from every quarter: skeptical colleagues, indifferent department chairs, hostile press and fringe individuals, politically hobbled funding agencies, and students who lack the skill and commitment to participate meaningfully in your research.  My advice is: only press forward with this area of research as your chosen path if you can conceive of doing nothing other than this.  I can not guarantee a position in my laboratory, even for those who are fully qualified by the criteria I have listed above, due to the uncertainty involved in research funding.

On the other hand, this is a really great area for research.  If you know for sure that this is what you want to do with your life, I will do everything in my power to help you.  You must make the preparations that I have listed above, but if you are truly committed to this, that will prove to be no obstacle.  Once you have developed the necessary skills, the opportunities are virtually limitless, but in general you must create your own opportunities and your own success.

Essential Coursework:
In addition to the required coursework for a Master’s degree in Engineering, every student should have taken the following courses:
Quantitative Physiology
Anatomy
Biological Chemistry
A graduate level course in Cell Biology with a lab
Electronic Circuit Design with a lab
Biomedical Instrumentation Design with a lab
A capstone Engineering Design course with a prototype project
Quantitative tissue mechanics

Additional Suggested Coursework:
Senior or graduate level course in Optics with a lab
Robotics
MEMS Fabrication (such as EECS 498, ME 553, or EECS 623)
Graduate course in Skeletal Muscle Physiology
Mechatronics
Sensor design
Genetics or Molecular Biology with a lab

Skills:
When applying, I am entirely disinterested in knowing your grade point average or the results of standardized test scores.  You should compile a portfolio of your engineering design and research work.  Please include PowerPoint presentations, photographs and/or videotapes of things that you have designed and built, projects that you have managed, and research or laboratory experiences that you have had.  Also include a list of your practical research skills in such areas as electronics, optics, cryogenics, genetics, molecular biology, small animal surgery, polymer chemistry, field biology, cell & tissue culture, mechanism design, machining, MEMS fabrication, microfluidics, biophysics, instrument design and assembly, materials testing, data acquisition systems, and computer programming.  Note that computer programming and computer modeling are extremely common skills among prospective graduate students, and in the absence of additional practical laboratory skills computer skills alone have very little value in the research in our laboratory (functional tissue engineering).

I hereby grant permission for any student or educator to make use of all materials on my web page, with the caveat that these materials be used for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.  This includes images, text, and video footage.  Please do not misrepresent my research, or use images or text out of context or in a deliberately misleading fashion.  If you have any specific questions, please feel free to ask.  In general, though, I would advise against the use of living materials from any animal in science experiments or science fair projects.  Of course there are exceptions to this, such as in structured biology laboratories with direct and close supervision from your teacher.  I can not provide detailed methods or designs for any of my hybrid biodevices because it is necessary to have specific authorization from an Institutional Review Board for the use of vertebrate animals or tissues in research.  I also suggest that you refrain from performing mad scientist experiments on any living creatures, simply because it is cruel to do so unless you have been trained as a scientist, and is only of value if you are working toward a well-defined scientific or technical goal.  In general, it is best to keep animal research to a minimum, and the unnecessary use of animals in experiments of any kind to zero.

As a rule, I decline all interviews with the popular media.  The appropriate forum for the results of my research is in the form of peer-reviewed scholarly manuscripts.  I also maintain this web page (www.umich.edu/~bobden) which is regularly updated and which contains a brief but accurate description of my current research.  My current Curriculum Vitae is also available on my web page, from which any interested party can obtain a complete listing of my peer-reviewed manuscripts.  Both of these resources are publicly available, and thus I am unreceptive to any arguments based upon the assertion of the “right of the public to know” about my research.  Furthermore, I am enthusiastically receptive to direct inquiries from the public regarding my research.  I regularly answer these directly on a case-by-case basis.

There are many reasons that I uniformly decline to grant interviews or provide technical content for the popular media.  The first reason is that, in all cases and despite their promises to the contrary, the media have consistently misrepresented my research in an attempt to “hype” the current state of research in the fields of Functional Tissue Engineering and/or Hybrid BioRobotics.  Presumably, this sells.  I strongly feel that this is irresponsible, and I will not under any circumstances contribute to the provision of deceptive information to the public.  I also feel that irresponsible journalists and irresponsible scientists who seek media attention have done irreparable damage to both fields by setting up unrealistic and unattainable expectations among the non-scientific public.  Furthermore, I feel that the state of research in these areas is far too early to warrant significant public disclosure by the mass media.  We are really only beginning to understand the spectrum of problems presented by attempting to engineer functional tissues and hybrid biomachines, and an incomplete treatment, watered down for consumption by the least common denominator, is far more damaging than it is helpful or productive.  Individuals who are intelligent enough to understand the issues involved will also be intelligent enough to readily access a wealth of information that is already available in the public archives, as I have mentioned above.

I will consider making exceptions to my general policy of declining interviews under the following circumstances:
The responsible journalist/editor/producer MUST provide:
1- A letter stating their special need for an interview.
2- Representative samples of their work in this or a related area.  This may include videotapes of film footage or interviews, or reprints of published text.
3- Two letters (or more) of reference from reputable scientists who have previously granted interviews.  The letters must be signed and notarized.  The scientists need not have worked in the specific areas of research of interest for the current Interview Request, but they must be active researchers in academia.  The letters should include the scope of the interview and the scientist’s opinion of the accuracy and professionalism with which the interview was handled.  The responsible journalist/editor/producer should also provide a representative sample of the results of each of these interviews.

These materials should be mailed to:
Dr. Robert Dennis
Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of Michigan
2350 Hayward
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-2125

Submission of these materials does NOT guarantee that I will grant an interview.  Submission of the above materials is required for me to make an informed decision as to whether or not I feel that the interview is warranted, that the journalists involved are reputable, and that the release of the information in the requested format will be generally beneficial to the public.  I am not impressed or intimidated by the unannounced presence of a camera crew, so please spare yourself the expense and disappointment of an uninvited trip to my home or laboratory.

bobden@umich.edu
bdennis@ai.mit.edu

Please do not send multiple e-mails.  Also, I will meet new students and media BY APPOINTMENT ONLY (see above if this was unclear).