Thomas (Tom) E. Augenstein Receives the Prestigious 2025Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding PhD Research!

Post date: Feb 22, 2025 12:34:17 PM

Tom has been awarded the prestigious 2025 Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding PhD Research! This is a College-level competition across all Departments/Programs for Ph.D. graduate students who are on track to receive/graduate with their conferred degree between April 2025 – December 2025.  It is intended to highlight the creativity and outstanding research achievements demonstrated by the Ph.D. students within the University.  Each year, only three student winners are selected for this award. Tom's selection for this award is a testament to his level of creativity, hard work, and dedication over the past 5+ years.  Tom is a PhD candidate in Michigan Robotics and also a recipient of the prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and the Rackham Predoctoral Fellowship. Tom's dissertation, titled “Development and Application of Low-cost Technologies for Stroke Rehabilitation”, focuses on robotics and rehabilitation science and involves (1) designing innovative low-cost technologies for stroke rehabilitation and (2) establishing the best methods of stroke rehabilitation by studying the biomechanical and neurophysiological effects of training with these devices. The impact of his doctoral work is evident from his scientific productivity: he currently has 19 peer-reviewed publications (17 during his time in my lab, 10 first/co-first author), 3 pre-prints, 3 fellowships (NSF, Rackham, and Robotics), 8 research/travel grants, 5 invited talks/presentations, 9 research abstracts, and 2 patent/invention disclosures. His excellence in mentoring and professional activities is evident from the list of undergraduate and graduate students that he has guided and mentored over the past 5 years and through his peer-reviewing activities for top-notch scientific journals in our field: he has mentored over 25 students (resulting in 9 peer-reviewed manuscripts) and is serving as a journal reviewer for 14 peer-reviewed scientific journals. The NeuRRo Lab is very proud of Tom's achievement and wishes him to receive many more accolades in the future!!