Three undergraduate students completed the SPUR program this summer in the Burleson Global Design Group supporting various ongoing projects, including empathy-centered engineering education, industry mentorship, and career readiness for mechanical engineers.

Congratulations to Lexie for receiving the Spring 2026 Outstanding MS Mechanical Engineering Student Award! This award recognizes Lexie’s academic and personal achievements and contributions to the department, including her role as MS Program Ambassador.

Congratulations to Olivia Wilburn for receiving the 2026 Department of Mechanical Engineering Inclusive Excellence Award. This award recognizes dedication to serving the mechanical engineering department and for creating an inclusive community for the graduate and undergraduate students.

We are excited to announce that Julianne Attai was recognized as an Outstanding Teaching Assistant by the Department of Mechanical Engineering! This award recognizes her efforts in the spring semester as a Teaching Assistant for a first-year programming class, MCEN1030: Introduction to Engineering Computing.

Congratulations, Zach! He defended his thesis, “Exploring Pathways for Humanitarian Engineering: Distinguishing Traditional, Contemporary, and Aspirational Approaches.” Read more about his project here.

PhD student, Olivia Wilburn, co-facilitated a workshop titled “Integrating Socio-Technical Thinking into Engineering Projects” at the 2026 Colorado WASH Symposium.

In 2025, we partnered with IEEE Humanitarian Technologies to develop open-source learning modules hosted on the IEEE Learning Network. The Humanitarian Technology and Technology for Impact curriculum is designed to support engineers interested in sustainable development and humanitarian applications, with a focus on human-centered community engagement and monitoring/evaluation best practices.

In 2025, Dr. Burleson received the university’s Exceptional Graduate Mentor Award and the Mechanical Engineering Department’s Award for Graduate Education.

This semester we welcomed new students: Sophie, Julianne, Debbie, Zach, and Megan. Read more about what they’ve been up to this semester!

Congrats to Carlota Serrano for successfully defending her MS Thesis!

Many members of the lab attended IEEE's 2025 Global Humanitarian Technologies Conference (GHTC) at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, where Emma Balevic, Sophie Frey, Debbie Hodson, and Olivia Wilburn presented their ongoing research projects!

In September, our team led a workshop titled “Practicing Perspective-Taking: Going Beyond Having Empathy in Engineering Design” at the Design Justice Symposium hosted at the University of Minnesota.

This summer, PhD student, Olivia Wilburn, spent three months living and working in Australia and Cambodia through a Practicum Program supported by the Mortenson Center in Global Engineering & Resilience. Olivia collaborated with Engineers Without Borders Australia (EWB-Australia) to support the Humanitarian Design Summit.

We were busy this summer! Five members of the Burleson Global Design Group presented at two different conferences: the Design Society’s International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) in Texas and ASME’s International Design Engineering & Technical Conferences (IDETC) in California. 

Arooj Masood and Lowell Glovsky graduate with their MS degrees!

Carlota Serrano has been awarded the Spring 2025 Outstanding MS Mechanical Engineering Student Award! 

PhD students, Emma Balevic and Olivia Wilburn, placed 1st and 3rd in a research presentation competition hosted by the Mechanical Engineering Department at CU Boulder.

Grad students, Arooj Masood and Emma Balevic, present at the 2024 IEEE Global Humanitarian Engineering Conference in Villanova, Philadelphia.

How can automotive design inform broader engineering practices and inspire the development of advanced technologies centered around human experience? This question guided Carlota Serrano's internship at Lucid Motors in the Occupant Package and Ergonomics team.