Kylie Barber

Hello, my name is Kaylie Barber. I am a rising third-year student studying Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics in the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State University. I am also an identical twin! I conduct research as part of the Mechanism Collective Lab within the Engineering Design and Optimization Group at Penn State in the manufacture of minimally-thick compliant mechanisms. As part of the 2022 RISS Program at Carnegie Mellon, I am furthering my knowledge of compliant mechanisms through robotic applications. Under the guidance of Dr. Zeynep Temel in the Zoom Lab, I am exploring the areas of compliant mechanisms, soft robotics, multi-stability, biomimetics, and origami for swimming locomotion. I am passionate about engaging through creating hands on prototypes to help visualize, understand, and test new concepts, and I have experience working as a student supervisor at the Penn State engineering makerspace where I work with many manufacturing tools and methods including rapid prototyping, machining, welding, and woodworking! I am grateful to my recommenders who encouraged me to pursue such an amazing opportunity and thankful to the CMU community for welcoming me!