CAREER: Supporting Professional Formation of Robotics Engineers through a Human-Centered Design Approach, National Science Foundation (2025-Present)

This project builds on pilot work to conduct a mixed-methods, longitudinal study of the impact of human-centered soft robotics on student career attitudes. Understanding more deeply how human-centered design can create an enriching educational environment will fundamentally change approaches to engineering education to recruit roboticists and engineers to meet society's most significant technical challenges. 
 
Design Optimization and Manufacturing Control in Hybrid Material Actuators, Sandia National Laboratory (2025-Present)

In this project, we aim to explore additive manufacturing techniques for creating biomaterial soft actuators. Our goal is that materials-based robotic designs will enable future micromachines and medical devices.
 
Development of an active wheelchair seat cushion to address pressure injuries, Jump ARCHES (2024-Present)
 
In this project, we explore clinical perspectives and new manufacturing methods to understand the development of user-specific wheelchair seat cushions.
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SIIP and Share: Podcasts to Connect the Engineers of Grainger COE (2024-Present)

In this project, we are prototyping podcasts to share the education, design, and research innovations of faculty, students, and alumni of the Grainger College of Engineering. We also evaluate the use of podcasts in engineering courses. We use the self-determination theory framework to understand how podcasts related to course content motivate students toward career related design activities.