In November 2024, the TCH awarded research grants to young researchers to carry out research in the field of haptics.
These grants were awarded to young researchers at the postdoc and Ph.D. student position levels to foster curiosity from applicants to explore new ideas in their projects that otherwise will be left unexplored. Below are the award recipients and their project titles:
- Celal Umut Kenanoglu (TU Delft, The Netherlands), Sliding Finger Contact Area Estimation for Individuals
- Eisa Anwar (Queen Mary University of London, UK), Novel fMRI Compatible Haptic Interface based on Soft Photonic Actuators and Fibre Optics
- Elyse Chase (Rice University, USA), Inertial Rendering: Referring Haptic Feedback from the Fingertips to the Wrist
- Michael Bertsch (University of Virginia, USA), Estimating force exerted during active touch using indirect skin cues
- Jegyeong Ryu (Seoul National University, South Korea), PVC gel-based handheld shear haptic actuators for realistic telesurgery
- Matteo Cecamore (Queen Mary University of London, UK), First approach to ankle-based haptic jumping in virtual reality
- Muge Cavdan & Mustafa Nedim (Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Germany), Serial dependence in haptic material perception
- Sara Badr (École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS), Canada), Hydrogel based transducer
- Shane King (Vanderbilt University, USA), Haptic Sensory Feedback Augmentation to Mitigate Sensorimotor Deficits Following Microgravity Exposure
- Ziyue Piao (McGill University, Canada), Belly-ease: A Wearable Device for Enhancing Breathing Control in Singing via Abdomen Vibrotactile Feedback
We received 21 proposals, and through a rigorous peer review process, selected the top 10 proposals, each awarded approximately USD 2,000. The review process was led by TCH co-chair Manuel Cruz, who ensured a fair and transparent evaluation by selecting committee members and making final award decisions based on their recommendations. We thank the evaluation committee:
- Manuel Cruz, TCH co-chair (Innovobot Labs, Canada)
- Yongjae Yong (Hanyang University, South Korea)
- Soekhee Jeon (Kyung Hee University, South Korea)
- Ad Spiers (Imperial College, UK)
- Waseem Hassan (University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
- Maria Pozzi (University of Siena, Italy)
- Vincent Levesque (ETS, Canada)
- Monia Ziat (Bentley University, USA)
We are looking forward to seeing the fruits of these efforts soon!
