January 26, 2001 -- The Computing Research Association named Tim Danner, senior in the Physical Computing research group, as an Honorable Mention for the Outstanding Undergraduate Award for 2001, sponsored by Microsoft.According to an announcement issued by Gregory Andrews, Lori Clarke and Michael Scott of the CRA Outstanding Undergraduate Award Committee, the nominees for the award were a "very impressive group. ... It is quite an honor to be selected for honorable mention from this group." Danner was one of 27 students recognized as Honorable Mentions.
The award committee named one winner and a runner-up nationwide in the categories of Outstanding Female Undergraduate and Outstanding Male Undergraduate. The nominees were comprised of students who made various significant contributions to their field through activities such as participating in more than one research project, authoring, or co-authoring multiple papers, making presentations at prestigious conference, and producing software artifacts for widespread use.Tim joined the Physical Computing group in his sophomore year, and began conducting research with Professor Lydia Kavraki. He received the James S. Waters Creativity Award in April 2000 for his ICRA 2000 conference presentation on "Randomized Planning for Short Inspection Paths."
"Tim completed an outstanding research project while maintaining an excellent academic record, " Kavraki said. "He also contributed to our group activities and meetings, and helped other students in the group start their projects. It has been a privilege to work with Tim, and I am glad that his efforts have gained recognition from CRA. I hope that Tim's experience will encourage other undergraduate students to get involved in research projects."