Daniel A Hagen

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

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!