He joined the University of Utah in 2008. Before coming to Utah, he spent three years in Switzerland as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems at ETH Zurich. Dr. Abbott received his Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University in 2005, his M.S. from the University of Utah in 2001, and his B.S. from Utah State University in 1999, all in Mechanical Engineering.