Douglas Brooks was raised in
Pittsboro, North Carolina. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with his B.S. in
Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University in December of
2005. He also graduated with his M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from
the Georgia Institute of Technology in December of 2008. His MS Thesis research
investigated a navigation control methodology for a wheel-legged robot based on
active vision. He has two years of industry work experience that include both
Square D Company and Texas Instruments where he worked with power electronics
and ASICs respectively. As a participant of SURE (Summer Undergraduate Research
for Engineers) at Georgia Tech, Douglas gained valuable research experience in
the area of semiconductor lighting. Douglas has received numerous honors and
awards, which include the following: GEM Fellowship, Georgia Tech FOCUS
Scholar, SAIC Student Paper Competition 1st place prize, and the
NASA Harriet G. Jenkins Predoctoral Fellowship. In 2007, Douglas was deemed as
one of the 100 Most Influential Black Alumni at NC State University and was
pictured in the Black Alumni Society (50th Commemorative Anniversary Edition) magazine.
Currently, Douglas is working towards obtaining his Ph.D. from Georgia Tech.
His current research investigates the use of a socially intelligent humanoid
robot to provide a hands-off analysis of physical therapy metrics using
computer vision techniques. In his spare
time, he enjoys playing basketball, singing, and salsa dancing.