Dr. Alanson Sample

Biography

Alanson Sample is an Associate Professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at the University of Michigan, where he joined in 2018. He leads the Interactive Sensing and Computing Lab and his research interests focus on Human-Computer Interaction, Cyber-Physical Systems, and wireless technology. Throughout his career, Alanson has worked in various academic and industry research labs, notably serving as the Executive Lab Director at Disney Research in Los Angeles, where he led efforts to deliver scientific and technological innovations for the Walt Disney Company, particularly in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and Computer Vision. He also held the position of Principal Research Scientist at Disney Research in Pittsburgh, overseeing the Wireless Systems Group and pioneering new interactive experiences through novel approaches in electromagnetics, RF analog circuits, and embedded systems. Prior to his work at Disney, Alanson was a Research Scientist at Intel Labs in Hillsboro, focusing on energy harvesting for wearable Internet of Things applications. He completed a postdoctoral research position in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington, collaborating with doctors at Yale School of Medicine to develop wirelessly powered and fully implantable heart pumps. Alanson received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington in 2011, during which he worked full-time at Intel Research in Seattle on projects related to wireless power delivery and energy harvesting for ubiquitous sensing and computing.

Research Interests