Sam Burden
Associate Professor
Seattle, Washington, United States
Summary
👤
Senior🎓
Top SchoolSam Burden is an associate professor in electrical and computer engineering at the University of Washington with a decade of experience advancing robotics, control theory, and human-AI interaction. He leads a research lab that has published in Science Robotics and Nature Machine Intelligence, secured $6.4M in extramural funding, and produced influential work on how people learn and invert models of nonlinear systems. A tenured faculty member and recipient of NSF CAREER and ARO YIP awards, he bridges theory and practice through learning-based control for legged robots and human-in-the-loop systems. Beyond research, he created departmental roles in faculty development and DEI, drove hiring reforms that dramatically increased female assistant professor hires, and launched mentoring programs connecting faculty across the college. Known for bringing mathematical rigor—from differential geometry to hybrid systems—to embodied robotics, he also teaches courses exploring the social dimensions of engineering.
10 years of coding experience
17 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science (BS), Control Theory, Bachelor of Science (BS), Control Theory at University of WashingtonDoctor of Philosophy (PhD), Control Theory, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Control Theory at UC BerkeleyProgramming languages (1)
Github contributions (5)
sburden/546-22wi-opt-lrn
Dec 2021 - Mar 2022
Contributions:25 commits, 24 pushes, 1 branch in 2 months
sburden/website
Aug 2019 - Mar 2025
sburden faculty website
Contributions:1 review, 10 PRs, 23 pushes in 5 years 8 months
faculty
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