About
image credit: 2019, Stanford PRL
In a world of silos and division, my research supports collaborative design across cultural, organizational, and knowledge boundaries; expands conceptions of design expertise; and critically examines disparities in who is benefited or burdened by engineered products, systems, and spaces. Ultimately, this work joins others in the collective goal of more just and sustainable futures.
Before Stanford, I worked in hardware product development as a R&D engineer, complex systems researcher, co-developer of a clean water organization, and design educator at MIT D-Lab. While at MIT, I spent several months each year living and working in Zambia with incredible Zambian innovators.
I am a designer, maker, and teacher at heart and have developed and taught courses in engineering design, manufacturing, organization studies, and planetary health and helped organized co-design summits in the Brazil, Ghana, Zambia, and the United States. I am committed to furthering my own critical consciousness and co-constructing learning environments that celebrate identity and difference.
Education
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering (Design), Stanford University, 2022
Doctoral Committee: Pamela Hinds, Sheri Sheppard, Maria Yang
Certificate: Critical Consciousness and Anti-Oppressive Praxis
Methods: Ethnography and Grounded Theory Building
M.A., Education (Learning Sciences), Stanford University, 2022
Advisor: Victor Lee
Concentration: Socio-cultural Lenses of Learning
Methods: Interviews, Network Analysis, Field Experiments, Mixed Methods
M.S., Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2018
Advisors: Sheri Sheppard, David Beach
Concentration: Design and Manufacturing
Teaching Assistant, Product Realization Lab
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University, 2009
Minors: Chemistry, International Studies, Philosophy (Ethics)
Professional
Experience
Design Researcher & Complex Systems Engineer, National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), 2022-present
Program Manager & Instructor, D-Lab Scale-Ups, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2011-2016
Co-Founder, Zimba Water, 2010-2012
Researcher, New England Complex Systems Institute, 2010
Research Engineer (Intern), Battelle Memorial Institute, 2006-2010