Marcia O’Malley, the Thomas Michael Panos Family Professor in Mechanical Engineering (MECH) and department chair, has been named by Women in Robotics to its annual list of “50 women in robotics you need to know about.”
The organization reports that O’Malley “researches haptics and the design and control of wearable robotic devices for training and rehabilitation.” She is director of the MAHI (Mechatronics and Haptic Interfaces) Lab and joined the Rice faculty in 2001. She holds joint appointments in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and bioengineering.
Her lab focuses on physical human-robot interaction for applications in rehabilitation, training and virtual reality. She and her students have developed robotic systems (hardware and control algorithms) for upper extremity rehabilitation after stroke and spinal cord injury, and devices for wearable haptic feedback, with applications in virtual reality, training and prosthetics.
O’Malley is a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). She is editor-in-chief of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation Conference editorial board, and a member of the ASME Committee on Government Relations. She served as associate editor-in-chief for Transactions on Haptics.
Women in Robotics is a non-profit organization founded in 2020 that advocates for women in robotics in academia and industry.