New Mechanical Engineering Faculty: Heather Kim

Heather Kim will join the Department of Mechanical Engineering as an Assistant Professor in January 2027! Kim will have a joint appointment across Computer Sciences and ME.

My research focuses on developing soft wearable devices that can sense, adapt, and actuate in response to users’ needs. I believe their flexibility and ability to conform to the human body make them particularly promising for personalized healthcare applications. These devices can interact with the body through mechanical forces or chemical pathways (such as drug delivery) to influence and regulate physiological processes.

More broadly, I am interested in building an ecosystem in which soft wearable devices can be personalized, fabricated, and ultimately “prescribed” by clinicians to meet individual patients’ needs. To get there, I see several important research directions. First, we need to understand how the static and dynamic mechanical properties of individual users influence device sensing and performance. Second, we need to develop intelligent wearable systems that anticipate users’ needs and deliver interventions proactively. Lastly, fabrication methods must become more accessible and adaptable, allowing clinicians themselves to create devices tailored to each patient’s unique healthcare needs.

Kim earned her PhD from Cornell University and joins UW after completing her postdoc at Cornell in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.