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About Me

Hi. I’m Grace – I’m a systems engineer, collaborative builder, and design strategist. I build to prove concepts, ask the what ifs and why nots, and am always drawn to people-driven work. I like to discover where design and engineering can drive experiences and reimagine systems, and I’ve spent years in health and biotech fields to do so. Over more than a decade in shop and lab environments, I love working with teams to realize design intent, then prove conditions for implementation.  ​ I’ve worked as an individual contributor engineer doing technical design and development. I joined a biotech startup right out of my engineering degree from Olin College, and I was asked to build out the program’s engineering platform for organ-chips-in-space research. Over my 4.5 years there, we sent three payloads to the International Space Station (ISS) and ran countless terrestrial experiments, resulting in patented microfluidics technology that reimagined and streamlined media pumping and recirculation. My team managed this project scope to meet government contract milestones and NASA rocket launch timetables. I then took part in the Systems Design and Management (SDM) Master’s program at MIT, where I pursued a joint degree in Engineering and Management. I studied system architecture, systems engineering and management as they relate to sociotechnical projects at the School of Engineering. Our capstone project was industry sponsored by MITRE where we took a systemic approach to the prevalence of Type 2 Diabetes in the USA. My second year I worked as a teacher’s assistant for SDM’s year-long core course working with students on their capstone projects. At Sloan School of Management, my focus was in product management through courses in Product Design & Development and Operations Management.  I’m currently working for a global design and strategy firm to bring design engineering into big Life Science. My role is to push for holistic frameworks where business, engineering, and marketing decisions are synthesized for transformative, user-championing solutions. My experience in consulting has equipped me with the commercial skills to move ideas from concept to launch.  In addition to large-scale design and engineering, I also take up bespoke customization projects related to assistive technology and prosthetics. I had the incredible opportunity to collaborate with the late Judy Heumann – a mother of the disability rights movements and trailblazer of the Americans with Disability Act (ADA). Charged to help her find relief while sleeping, I built a dynamic setup that propped and relieved her legs for sleep. It was a design-for-one project that illuminated key insights for scaling sociotechnical systems within caregiving services and available medical technology. This high-contrast work — from aerospace environments to domestic life — is a mix of practices and skillsets that I enjoy. ​ I’d love to connect with like-minded individuals and communities investigating socio-technical questions within the interconnected systems  of technology, ethnographic design and commercialization.

Past Work

 

Hi-Tech System Builds
A four+ year endeavor exploring the effects of microgravity on brain cells while pushing engineering limits within the harsh environment of space 

  • What if microgravity cured Alzheimer’s disease? - Project Link

 

Exploratory  + Research Builds

Charged by lofty goals to push engineering boundaries, our lab built novel actuators and robotics concepts. 

  • What if we made a hand out of soft polymers instead of traditional hard materials?- A soft underactuated hand - Project Link

  • What if we utilized the natural frequency of tuna fish for underwater navigation  - Bio inspired soft bladders propelling underwater robots - Project Link

 

Bespoke Builds

Much of my builds have taken on documentary forms, involving lots of clips, snips and connecting dots. 

  • How can bespoke builds illuminate scaling systems? A collaboration of builds, craft and documentation of a bespoke sleeping setup for the late Judy Heumann - Thesis Link, IG Blog Link

  • What is a normal socket? What if the user can build their own effectors to fit their lifestyle preferences? - The universal socket - Project Link

Education

2021-2023

M.S. Engineering & Management
MIT

  • System Design & Management Capstone: Systems approach to Type 2 Diabetes in the USA, sponsored by MITRE Corporation

  • Thesis: "Bespoke Design Meets Systems at Scale, A Design Study with Judy Heumann" - DSpace@MIT Thesis Link

2012-2016

B.S. Mechanical Engineering
Olin College of Engineering

Soft Robotics Research

  • Built a 3-finger soft hand* using two durometer rubbers and two cast jobs with 3D printed molds powered by single motor under-actuation transmission. 

  • Created soft actuators to propel underwater bio-mimetic robots with Professor Dave Barrett's Intelligent Vehicles Lab.

Design Research

  • Co-designed a universal prosthetic socket for a man born with arm. Documented design process and presented at the Open Hardware Summit in Philadelphia, PA as sole undergraduate students.

  • Conducted open-ended discovery research with recreational boxers over a semester long capstone project in user-oriented design. 

  • Interviewed founders and activists of the Accessible Icon Project and created film documentary describing design process and story.

Experience

2023 - Present

Native Design

Business & Strategy Manager

  • Led and implemented new client strategy which led to $1.1M in potential revenue. 

  • Build firm’s point of view on the future of the lab that champions user-centered solutions with lab spaces. 

  • Develop firm’s Life Science network for new business opportunities in genomics, liquid handling, point-of-care diagnostics and lab automation.

2016 - 2021

Emulate Bio

Engineer 3 - Discovery Team Lead

Served as product lead for two multimillion-dollar NCATS/CASIS grants in organ-chips-in-space microgravity research using Emulate’s Organ-Chip platform. Completed missions include SpaceX CRS-16 in December 2018, SpaceX CRS-17 in May 2019, and SpaceX CRS-20 in March 2020.  


Product Management

  • Managed cross-functional team of 8 biologists and engineers allocated across two NIH grants. 

  • Collaborated with external groups in aerospace and manufacturing to develop payload features and debug hardware and software issues.

  • Developed and managed aggressive development and verification schedule from concept to rocket launch 

  • Reported monthly experiment updates and data findings to NIH-NCATS and CASIS grant executives. 
     

Individual Contribution 

  • Developed microfluidics hardware and programmed experiment software to autonomously run bioengineering experiments for launch, travel, and station on the International Space Station. 

  • Led monthly Engineering Verification Tests in a BL2+ lab verifying nominal flow and pressure, experiment programming, sensing suite validation and bioengineering sterility.

  • Responsible for making technical tradeoffs pertaining to biology requirements.

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