Daniel Lofaro is a 5th year BS/MS student at Drexel studying Electrical Engineering in Control Systems. Daniel’s interest in the sciences and engineering began when he saw a racket ball shatter after being dipped in liquid nitrogen for the first time in second grade.

When deciding where to study engineering, Daniel sought a university that could provide hands-on experience and real-world applications for the topics covered in university. He chose Drexel because it offered a 5-year plan to get a bachelor and master degree in engineering with the included benefits of being able to work at engineering firms as an undergrad while on co-op.

Along the way, Daniel became interested in supporting the efforts of Engineers Week.  This year, Daniel’s involvement consisted of designing, making the rules for and organizing the construction of the new Egg Drop Competition. The objective was to make the competition a little bit more challenging and replaced the egg descending on a tether with a “free fall” requirement.

This past February Daniel was awarded the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) Fellowship. He will be working this summer as an NSF Fellow in Daejeon, South Korea at the Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Daniel will be working side by side with the robot researchers that make the HUBO humanoid robot. The HUBO is a 4.5 foot tall humanoid robot that can walk, run and even climb stairs.  Daniel is interested specifically in biped locomotion as it relates to animals that use tails as a method of balancing. He will learn how to assemble, disassemble and maintain the HUBO while incorporating his own communications and control system into the existing HUBO design. In fall 2008, the Drexel Autonomous Systems lab will be procuring a HUBO as a part of a NSF biped robotic research grant.