William C. Messner

I am a full professor at Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of Mechanical Engineering with a courtesy appointment in the Department of Electical and Computer Engineering .

My B.S. degree was obtained in 1985 from M.I.T. in mathematics. My most memorable moment at M.I.T. was finishing second in the Department of Mechanical Engineering's Class 2.70 Introduction to Design contest. Following that brush with near greatness, I worked extensively in the Newman Laboratory for Biomechanics and Human Rehabilitation.

From 1985 to 1987, at the height of the Cold War I worked at BBN Laboratories in Newport, Rhode Island doing contract with the Naval Underwater Systems Center.

My M.S. and Ph.D. degrees were obtained in 1989 and 1992 respectively from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley with specialization in controls.

Since 1993 I have been working here at CMU, where my work concentrates primarily in controls related to data storage system and robotics. I currently lead the research in servo controls for the Data Storage Systems Center an Engineering Research Center sponsored in part by the National Science Foundation .