James McLurkin (born 1972) is a Senior Hardware Engineer at

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

. Previously, he was an engineering assistant professor at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranked among the top universities ...

specializing in

swarm robotics Swarm robotics is an approach to the coordination of multiple robots as a system which consist of large numbers of mostly simple physical robots. ″In a robot swarm, the collective behavior of the robots results from local interactions between ...

. In 2005, he appeared on an episode of PBS' '' Nova'' and is a winner of the 2003 Lemelson-MIT Prize.

Early life

McLurkin was born in 1972 in Baldwin, New York and graduated from Baldwin Senior High School in 1990. He built his first robot, Rover, in 1988.

Education and career

McLurkin completed his PhD in computer science in May 2008 at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is a research institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) formed by the 2003 merger of the Laboratory for Computer Science (LCS) and the Artificial Intelligence Lab ...

. Previously, he earned his master's degree in electrical engineering from the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

and

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. As part of his doctoral research, McLurkin developed algorithms and techniques for programming “swarms” of autonomous robots to mimic the behavior of bees, including their abilities to cluster, disperse, follow, and orbit. In 1995, McLurkin was invited by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

to speak about his life and career in a presentation for schoolchildren sponsored by the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation.Article outlining McLurkin's "Innovative Lives" presentation for the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center

References

External links

Personal web page

Prototype Online: Inventive Voices podcast featuring a 2006 interview with James McLurkin
- From the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation website. {{DEFAULTSORT:McLurkin, James Lemelson–MIT Prize 1972 births Living people Rice University faculty African-American engineers 21st-century American engineers African-American scientists Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni UC Berkeley College of Engineering alumni American roboticists 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people