OUR TEAM


Kim Ingraham, PhD

Principal Investigator

Email: kingra [at] uw [dot] edu

Prof. Kim Ingraham (she/her) is an Assistant Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UW. She is affiliated with UW CREATE (Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) and is a core faculty member of the AMP Lab. Prof. Ingraham directs the (yet-to-be-named) Ingraham Lab, focused on advacing human mobility using assistive robotic devices, such as exoskeletons, prostheses, and powered wheelchairs.

Prof. Ingraham has an interdisciplinary training background, and has earned degrees in Biomedical Engineering (BE 2012, Vanderbilt University) and Mechanical Engineering (MS, PhD 2021, University of Michigan). She was a CREATE postdoctoral fellow in Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Washington. Prior to beginning graduate school, she worked as a Research Engineer at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago).

In her past professional and doctoral research, Prof. Ingraham has developed and evaluated physiologically-inspired control systems for a variety of assistive devices, including powered lower-limb prostheses, robotic exoskeletons, and powered wheelchairs for young children with disabilities. Prof. Ingraham was an NSF graduate research fellow, and received Honorable Mention for the 2021 Richard and Eleanor Towner Prize for Outstanding Ph.D. Research at the University of Michigan.

Read Prof. Ingraham’s ECE faculty spotlight here.


PhD Students

 

Annika Pfister - PhD Candidate, Electrical & Computer Engineering

apfist8 [at] uw [dot] edu

Annika Pfister (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at UW. She earned her BA in Neuroscience at Wellesley College, along with a Certificate of Engineering from Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, in 2023. Annika's undergraduate research involved electromyography technique and electrode design, as well as adaptive closed-loop control systems. Her research interests include (neuro)prosthetics, user-collaborative engineering, and closed-loop sensorimotor control. LinkedIn

Mark Etzelmueller, MS - PhD Student, Electrical & Computer Engineering

Mark Etzelmueller (he/him) is a PhD Student in the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at UW. He earned his BS in Electrical Engineering with a concentration in Biosystems from the University of Notre Dame and a MSc. in Bioengineering from Trinity College Dublin. Prior to joining the lab, Mark worked as a staff engineer at the Harvard Move Lab and as a Research Development Manager at Brown University. His past research involved wearable robotics, functional electrical stimulation, and transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation. Mark's research interests include personalized adaptive control and developing and evaluating assistive technologies for individuals with neurological impairments. LinkedIn

Siena Villancio-Wolter, MS - PhD Candidate, Electrical & Computer Engineering

sienavw [at] uw [dot] edu

Siena Villancio-Wolter (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at UW. She earned her BS in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida in 2024. Siena’s undergraduate research in the Human Neuromechanics Lab at UF involved exoskeleton adaptation with proportional myoelectric control, stroke rehabilitation neuromechanics, and biomechanics sensor optimization. Siena is an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and received the College of Engineering Dean’s Fellowship at UW. Her current research interests include assistive robotics, human-machine interactions, and control systems.

Zijie Jin, MEng - PhD Candidate, Electrical & Computer Engineering

zijiejin [at] uw [dot] edu

Zijie Jin (he/him) is a PhD Candidate in the Electrical & Computer Engineering department at UW. Zijie has an interdisciplinary background with BEng in Chemical Engineering (2019, McGill University) and MEng in Biomedical Engineering (2022, McGill University). Zijie's undergraduate research involved developing hydrogel-based systems for examining cell spatial secretomics and his master's thesis was on developing miniaturized in vitro models for studying gut microbiota. Before joining Ingraham Lab, Zijie worked as a RA at Polytechniques Montreal on exoskeleton control and simulation. His current research interests include design and control of exoskeletons and prostheses for rehabilitation and human augmentation. LinkedIn


Undergraduate Students

 

Are you interested in joining the team?

We are always looking for motivated students from multidisciplinary engineering backgrounds (electrical, mechanical, biomedical, etc.) to contribute to the lab’s research goals. Students should have a strong interest in understanding human movement and using robotic systems to advance human mobility in the real world.


Lab Alumni

 

Undergraduate Students

  • Mia Onodera (BS ECE, 2023-2025) - PhD student, University of Illinois

  • Claire Feddema (BS ME, 2023-2024) - Mechanical Engineer, Morrison Weighing Systems