MOMENTUM • VIRGINIA TECH MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 15
Pinhas Ben-Tzvi named fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers
Mechanical engineering professor Pinhas Ben-Tzvi has been named a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers ( ASME ).
Established in 1880 , ASME aims to “ advance engineering for the benefit of society .” It currently has more than 85,000 members from 140 countries . In order to be selected as a fellow — a “ membership grade of distinction ” recognizing “ significant engineering achievements ” — an ASME member must have been in active practice for at least 10 years and have been an active corporate member of ASME for at least a decade as well .
Ben-Tzvi ’ s research centers on fundamental and applied research in robotics , mechatronics , and controls . Some of his current projects include robotic exoskeletons for use in rehabilitation , bio-inspired robotic tails that can be used to stabilize and maneuver legged robots in the field , semi-autonomous victim extraction robots that can remove injured people from harm ’ s way without risking more lives , and reconfigurable mobile robotics for search and rescue . In addition to his research projects , he is also passionate about educating students at the graduate and undergraduate levels in robotics and mechatronics , transferring university-based technologies to the marketplace , and collaborating with industry and government to help solve real-world problems . He joined the faculty of the Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2015 .
As founding director of the Robotics and Mechatronics Lab , Ben-Tzvi mentors students and young researchers working toward new innovations in robotics . He has more than two decades of experience in robotics research , having spent time in both industry and academia . He recently published an article in ASME ’ s magazine on the use of tails in robots .
His work in robotics has been cited more than
2,600 times , and he currently carries an H-index of 28 and i10-index of 71 . He has been named a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ( IEEE ) and an honorary faculty member of Pi Tau Sigma , the international honor society for mechanical engineers . Ben-Tzvi received the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2019 and the College of Engineering Faculty Fellow Award in 2018 from Virginia Tech .
Ben-Tzvi has served as technical editor for the IEEE / ASME Transactions on Mechatronics and associate editor for IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine and ASME ’ s Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics . He served as an associate editor for the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation from 2013-18 .
His research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health , the National Science Foundation , the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency , the Office of Naval Research , the U . S . Navy , the U . S . Army , and more . He has authored and co-authored more than 170 peer-reviewed journal articles and refereed papers in conference proceedings . He is the named inventor on 12 U . S . patents and patent applications .
Ben-Tzvi is one of 13 faculty members in the mechanical engineering department currently holding the title of ASME fellow .