In this collaboration with Prof. Rachel Vitali (HIR Lab - https://vitali.lab.uiowa.edu/), RAD PhD student Samira Afshari investigates the use of accelerometry and accelerometry combined with muscle activity to detect intended grasp type in individuals with and without amputation. 

The Iowa Innovation Leadership Fellows Program is a year-long educational experience connecting graduate trainees with industry leaders, venture capitalists, and entrepreneurs. The program introduces fellows to the policies, programs, resources, and factors that influence addressing society's unmet needs through healthcare innovation.

The GLEAM program seeks to educate and mentor engineering PhD candidates to become future industry and academic leaders in advanced manufacturing. This fellowship will cover Xandra's tuition as she pursues higher education!

High school student and RAD Lab member, Jinann Abudagga and her team are competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition 2025 today! Learn more: https://iafirst.org/iowa-frc/

Assistant Professor and RAD Lab director, Deema Totah, presented her talk "Engineering a Place for Palestine in Multidisciplinary Research" at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. This was part of a two-day symposium entitled "A Lens Onto Ourselves: Gaza and a Reckoning for Urban Planning." Learn more at https://dusp.mit.edu/events/lens-ourselves-gaza-and-reckoning-urban-planning www.alensontoourselves.com

Professors Deema Totah (ME) and Stephanie Miracle (Dance) will be presenting their paper "Vulnerability is Your Friend: Co-Creating Robots with Dancers" at the 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) this May in Atlanta, Georgia. Thank you to Prof. Casey Harwood and high school intern Jinann Abudagga for their contributions to robot ideation, design, and operation.

The RAD Lab collaborated with Prof. Stephanie Miracle (Dance) to create several small robots for a human-robot dance performance at Dance Gala 2024 in Hancher Auditorium (October 17-19, 2024). RAD lab member and high-school senior Jinann Abudagga helped design, manufacture and program the robots under the supervision of Prof. Deema Totah. Special thanks to Prof. Casey Harwood for his time and assistance on this project.

RAD Lab team members Samira Afshari (ME), George Elias (ME), and Braeden Harrell (BME) attended the ASB Conference along with Dr. Deema Totah this summer.

RAD lab members Braeden Harrell (Biomedical Engineering), George Elias (Biomedical Engineering), and Rose Foley (Graphic Design) received their B.S. degrees this Spring 2024. Braeden and George will start the Mechanical Engineering Graduate program this Fall! They were accepted through the accelerated U2G program.

This year at the Innovation Challenge through the Papajohn Entrepreneurial Center, the Iowa JPEC awarded a total of $135,000 to support innovation across campus and beyond. A total of 29 startups won a cash prize at the Spring Innovation Challenge including RAD Lab student Xandra McGlasson, who was awarded $1,000 and an honorable mention for her work on the Abel Table project in the Undergraduate Awards section. Congratulations Xandra!

Congratulations to Marissa McFadden for successfully defending her master's thesis in BME on Wed April 10th, 2024!

Xandra McGlasson (Abel) has won The Research Supply Grant for her project titled The Abel Table.

Wilensky Coleau from Stony Brook University joins the team this summer

RAD lab members Katie Vaiciulis (Biomedical Engineering), Zac Williston (Mechanical Engineering), and Feranmi Badejo (Mechanical Engineering) received their B.S. degrees this Spring 2023 and will start the Mechanical Engineering Graduate program this Fall! They were accepted through the accelerated U2G program.