He has 30 years of experience in both extravehicular space operations and space robotics, and he has been the PI on several NASA robotic programs, a DARPA project for modular dexterous robots, and a NSF project to develop an autonomous underwater robot. He has written over 50 papers on aerospace systems design, EVA, teleoperation, robotics, and space simulation, and he has taught many courses in aerospace design, systems engineering, robotics, and human-robot interaction as well as mentoring students in the GEMSTONE program. Dr. Akin has served a member of the NASA Space Science Advisory Committee and the Mars Science Laboratory Independent Review Team.