MAHDI TAVAKOLI received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada, in 2005. He is currently a Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada. In 2006, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics. In 2007–2008, he was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow with Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. His research interests broadly include the areas of robotics and systems control.,Dr. Tavakoli is currently on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Medical Robotics Research.