Daniel A Hagen

About Daniel A Hagen

Stop me if you\'ve heard this one before. I\'m a chef-turned-scientist who likes to build stuff and code. I used to be an actor and I love math. Pretty straightforward career path, right?The truth is, I like to make things. In 2011, I started my own catering company so I could make fun and interesting dishes for my clients (and because it\'s an unofficial LA law that you cater if you\'re an actor). Then one random day, while catering a corporate viewing party, I was fortunate enough to see Dr. Hugh Herr\'s TED talk. While seamlessly walking around the stage on his two lower-limb prosthetics, Dr. Herr brought everyone to tears as he described how he used state-of-the-art prosthetics to restore a ballerina\'s ability to dance after losing her leg in the Boston Marathon bombing. There wasn\'t a dry eye in the audience as we watched this woman dance for the first time since the terrorist attack. I sat there speechless as I witness the intersection of art and math make a difference in this woman\'s life. I was so inspired by this story that the next day I decided to go back to school to pursue a degree in Biomedical Engineering. Six months later, I said goodbye to catering and hello to graduate school.I thoroughly enjoyed my time at USC as a member of Valero Lab. I learned a lot about biomechanics, motor control, control theory, machine learning, and neuroscience. I wrote numerous computer programs - some for research and some just because I wanted to build something useful - and I learned how to collaborate across disciplines while participating in an academically diverse lab. After graduating in 2020, I was fortunate enough to land at Sarcos Robotics where I have continued to grow and learn while pushing the bleeding edge of robotics and exoskeletons. And now I am thrilled to be back in LA working with the amazing team at Horizon Surgical Systems to create ground-breaking robotic solutions for cataract surgery. It\'s honestly been a wild ride. I pride myself on being a driven individual who likes to not just fundamentally understand how things work, but also why. I strive to always ensure that my work is both efficient and polished so that I might strike a balance between productivity and creativity. And I thrive on collaborations—solving big problems requires any and every perspective to make breakthroughs and I believe communication and teamwork are vital to this approach. Please check out my website at for more info! Thanks!

Experience

1. Technical Lead Manager Staff Robotics and Controls Engineer

   Horizon Surgical Systems

   Mar 2026 — Present · Santa Monica, CA, US

Education

• University of Southern California

  Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Biomedical Engineering

  2016 — 2020

• University of Southern California

  Master's degree, Biomedical Engineering

  2015 — 2016

• University of Arizona

  Bachelor's degree, Mathematics

  2007 — 2010

Skills

• Time Management
• Biomedical Engineering
• Microsoft Excel
• Python
• Event Planning
• Matlab
• Computational Modeling
• Marketing
• Management
• Neuroscience
• Mathematical Modeling
• Customer Service
• Social Media
• Microsoft Office
• Leadership
• Research
• Mathematics