Dr. Kazem Kazerounian currently serves as Dean and a professor of Mechanical Engineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He has been responsible for leading strategic initiatives focused on expanding the School’s research enterprise, institutional advancement, educational innovation, and technology commercialization. At the national level, he has been the Chair of ASME Design Division Executive Committee and has led several major national and international conferences and technical committees. He has served on the editorial boards of the ASME Applied Mechanics Review and ASME Journal of Medical Devices and has been Associate Editor of both the ASME Journal of Mechanical Design and the Journal of Mechanisms and Machine Theory. In addition, he is a Fellow of ASME and the recipient of the ASME Design Division Mechanisms and Robotics Award (a lifetime achievement award) in recognition of cumulative contributions to the field of mechanisms design and theory (2006), the George Wood Award in recognition of significant contributions to the field of mechanisms and robotics (1997), and the ABB Outstanding Faculty Award (1997). He was inducted into the Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering (CASE) in 2008.