Our director of the Human Ability and Engineering Lab, Kat Steele, is highlighted in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Below a blurb from the article can be read, but to read in full, follow this LINK.

People in Research: How Kat Steele applied her engineering roots to health care

“Mechanical engineering is so flexible that you can work from aerospace to medicine,” she explained. “Prosthetic limbs, joint replacements…all those devices they are developing now for health care have a lot of mechanical engineering in their roots.”

Now at the UW, Steele is the director of the Human Ability & Engineering Lab where she and her team focus on need-based human-centered designs, mainly for people with cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries or those who have had a stroke.

Projects can range from sensors and devices to track and monitor muscle activity to producing exoskeletons that help people walk after injuries.

What Steele says she loves most about moving to Seattle and working at UW is the ease in which she can collaborate with people in the medical community.

“There really are not that many schools with an excellent engineering program with an excellent hospital right next door,” she said. “I can walk five minutes and be at UW’s medical center or 20 minutes and be at Seattle Children’s.”

Great job, Kat!