University of St. Thomas

S.B.  2001,   Ocean Engineering (minor: Music), M.I.T.
M.S.  2002,   Mechanical Engineering, Caltech
Ph.D. 2006,   Mechanical Engineering, Caltech

Courses:

Machine Design and Synthesis (ENGR 320)
Engineering Graphics (ENGR 171)
Senior Design (ENGR 480)
Dynamics with Circus Lab (ENGR 488)
Product Design for an Aging Population (IDSC 480)
Brain-Machine Interfaces Seminar (IDSC 480)

Research Interests:

Engineering Design Pedagogy
PK-12 Engineering Education and Teacher Training
Design for Aging
Synthetic Jet propulsion           

Career:

In both her teaching and research, AnnMarie's emphasis is on the design process and preparing students (PK-college) to create solutions to challenging design problems. She teaches a number of design related courses at UST and is actively collaborating with the University of St. Thomas' school of education in designing programs to prepare PK-12 teachers (and education students) to use engineering in their own classrooms. AnnMarie is also working with students and collaborators from both industry and the UST department of Psychology to develop new products addressing issues related to aging.

Prior to joining the UST School of Engineering, AnnMarie was on the faculty of the Art Center College of Design for two years, teaching classes on robotics and biologically inspired design. She has consulted on projects ranging from a book on earthquake preparedness in Los Angeles to the creation of an automated giant xylophone that can play music from seismological data. She has lectured widely on the synergy between Art and Design, for both public audiences and at colleges. AnnMarie is very active in educational outreach and has designed and taught robotics courses and workshops for middle school and high school children.

As an ocean engineer, she has worked on projects associated with underwater robots (at UST, MIT, Caltech, and at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute) with an emphasis on propulsion methods. She has been involved with many biologically inspired design projects, and helped develop courses on this topic at both MIT and the Art Center College of Design.

AnnMarie is also an amateur aerialist. In Janaury of 2009 she is teaching ENGR 488 Dynamics (with Circus Lab) in which her students will be using traditional circus arts to explore the field of Dynamics. As a final project, the engineering students will be putting on a circus to explain the fundamentals of dynamics to a group of local middle school students.

Design Lab:

AnnMarie runs the UST Design Lab. The lab, which contains a 3D printer, laser cutter, sewing machine, materials library, and other design aids, is used by students working on research projects and projects for classes. The lab also serves as a resource to faculty from both the School of Engineering and other departments (such as Mathematics) who would like to use rapid prototyping in their research or teaching. As a complement to the lab's activities, AnnMarie runs the "Design Discussions" seminar series which has brought a number of designers (ranging from architects and product designers, to stained glass window artisans and Linux programmers) to campus.