Roboticists, Welcome to the new school year and term! I'll be heading up the robotics seminar this academic year, trying to live up to the mythos of Bill. As is our tradition, the first seminar of the term will be a State of the Program presentation by our Robotics Program Director, Cindy Grimm. Dr. Grimm will talk about where the program is, and where it’s headed. She will also take any program-related questions you might have. And we will hear from RGSA! As a reminder, everyone is expected to come to the seminar. We’ve got a strict no-device policy. We also have, as always, coffee and coffee cake. For the fall term, we have Covell Hall 221 as our seminar location, with the usual timing of 10am Fridays. Please plan to head there each Friday at 10am for now. Cheers, Naomi State of the Robotics Program Cindy Grimm, Oregon State University Abstract: We’ll start by introducing our faculty and the areas they work in, along with major new funded projects. The Robotics Graduate Student Association will also introduce themselves. This last year has seen changes in Graf, admissions, and the qualifying exam; I’ll cover what’s new and the cultural expectations that make our group here so unique. Bio: Dr. Grimm started her research career in 3D graphics, creating novel methods for representing complex surfaces. She dabbled a bit in facial animation at Microsoft Research, then transitioned to Washington University in St. Louis where she pursued work in biomedical imaging, human-computer interaction, and art-based rendering. She moved to Oregon State University in 2012, and joined the "Cool Kids" club in robotics. She now works on agricultural robotics and dabbles in law and policy for robotics. She is also the current Graduate Director for the Robotics program.