Victoria Webster-Wood, PhD

Dr. Victoria Webster-Wood is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering with a courtesy appointment in Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Dr. Webster-Wood received her BS in 2012, MS in 2013, and PhD in 2017 in Mechanical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, receiving graduate support as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow and GAANN Fellow in the Biologically Inspired Robotics Lab. She subsequently completed her postdoctoral training as a Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow in the Tissue Fabrication and Mechanobiology Lab at the same institution. She received the NSF CAREER Award in 2021 for her work on Adaptive Actuation and Control in Embodied Biohybrid Robots and is a co-PI of the NSF NeuroNex Network on Communication, Coordination, and Control in Neuromechanical Systems (C3NS). Upon joining Carnegie Mellon University, she established and directs the CMU Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group (BORG).  Animals have long served as an inspiration for robotics. However, many of the mechanical properties, physical capabilities, and the behavioral flexibility seen in animals have yet to be achieved in robotic platforms. Towards addressing this gap, the BORG’s research focuses on the use of organic materials as structures, actuators, sensors, and controllers toward the development of biohybrid and organic robots and biohybrid prosthetics. The research group’s long-term goal is to develop completely organic, autonomous robots with programmable neural circuits. Such robotic systems will have applications in search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and prosthetics. View a list of Dr. Webster-Wood’s publications here.