BIOROB 2026 WORKSHOP: SPEAKER LINEUP

Vivian Mushahwar

Dr. Vivian Mushahwar is the Director of iSMART. She is also a Canada Research Chair (Tier 1) in Functional Restoration and a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Alberta. Her work focuses on developing intelligent wearable and implantable neural prostheses that restore mobility and prevent secondary complications. She also focuses on developing creative rehabilitation interventions that are both efficacious and cost-saving. She pioneered the development of micro-implants for stimulating the spinal cord in restoring standing and walking after paralysis, as well as the development of the wearable garments, Smart-e-Pants and the SOCC, for preventing pressure injuries and deep vein thrombosis.

Michael Tolley
Dr. Michael T. Tolley is Professor in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and director of the Bioinspired Robotics and Design Lab at the Jacobs School of Engineering, UC San Diego (bioinspired.eng.ucsd.edu). Before joining the mechanical engineering faculty at UCSD in the fall of 2014, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University. He received the Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science from Cornell University in 2009 and 2011, respectively. His research seeks inspiration from nature to design robotic systems with the versatility, resilience, and efficiency of biological organisms. Example topics include soft robots, origami robots, and systems capable of self-assembly. His work has appeared in leading academic journals including Science and Nature, and has been recognized by awards including a US Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program award and a 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award. He is active in the robotics community, serving in multiple associate editor and conference organizer roles including as Program Chair of the IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft) in 2020 and General Chair in 2024. Prof. Tolley is a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a member of the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS), and of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

Dan Sameoto
Dr. Dan Sameoto is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta and the CTO of ZiprPrint Inc. He is an interdisciplinary researcher with degrees in mechanical engineering from Dalhousie University and a Ph.D. in Engineering Science from Simon Fraser University and his research program combines elements of mechanical, electrical and materials engineering in one lab. Dr. Sameoto’s primary expertise is invention, making significant contributions in fields ranging from MEMS, microfabrication and microfluidics, to multi-material 3D printing, soft robotics, cube satellites and biomimetic smart materials. His current research areas include intelligent materials, with shape and stiffness switching in response to external stimuli, soft robotic technology for wearables, and stretchable electronics for cybernetic nervous system integration. In addition to his work with the SMART Network, Dr. Sameoto is also working on 3D printing with recycled waste materials, new deployable systems for cube satellite instruments, and next generation waste water membrane filtration systems.

Vanessa Sanchez

Dr. Vanessa Sanchez is a fashion-designer-turned-engineer working to make our clothing smarter and more assistive through focusing on the intersection of materials, manufacturing, and robotics. She attended The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) for fashion design and later graduated with a BS from the Fiber Science program at Cornell University. She obtained her PhD, supported by the DoD NDSEG Fellowship and the GEM Fellowship, at Harvard University in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering with a focus on soft robotic textiles as part of the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory. As an NSF MPS-Ascend Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Stanford University she conducted work on supramolecular shape memory polymer fibers. Her research has been featured in Vice, Wired, and Engadget and she has been named to the list of 50 Women in Robotics You Need to Know, recognized as an ACS CAS Future Leader, and selected for Forbes 30 Under 30.

Ehsan Hashemi

Dr. Ehsan Hashemi is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta. He is the principal investigator of the Networked Optimization, Diagnosis, and Estimation (NODE) laboratory. His research focuses on cooperative autonomous systems, networked control systems, human-autonomy interaction, robot perception, and biomechatronics, with direct applications in reliable and safe human-robot controls, state estimation, and decision making in rehabilitative and intelligent assistive technologies.

Leila Kelleher

Dr. Leila Kelleher is a fashion scholar and designer whose work focuses on size-inclusive design, sustainable fashion, and the application of biomechanics in apparel development. She holds a PhD in Biomechanics and uses interdisciplinary approaches to challenge exclusionary norms in fashion design and education. She is the co-founder of the Size Inclusion in Fashion Lab, which fosters research, industry partnerships, and curriculum development to advance equitable practices in fashion. Her first book, Plus Size Patternmaking for Womenswear (Bloomsbury, 2026), is the first dedicated textbook on plus-size patternmaking, offering technical methods that reflect the needs and proportions of plus-size bodies. Her second book, Size-Inclusive Sustainable Fashion, currently under contract, critically examines the limitations of mainstream sustainability discourse and offers new frameworks for inclusion. Dr. Kelleher most recently served as Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice at Parsons School of Design and was formerly a Professor of Health Sciences.

Taymy Caso

Dr. Taymy J. Caso, PhD, (they/she) is an Associate Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Alberta and Director of the Intersectional Research, Empowerment, Advocacy, and Community Health Promotion (IREACH) Lab. Dr. Caso completed their doctoral training in counselling psychology at New York University, as well as the Randi and Fred Ettner Postdoctoral Fellowship in Transgender Health in the Eli Coleman Institute for Sexual and Gender Health at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Their research focuses on minority health disparities, intersectionality, identity-based marginalization within LGBTQ+ BIPOC communities, gender and sexual fluidity, social determinants of health and legislative and public policy advocacy. Their advocacy work utilizes anti-oppressive and decolonizing pedagogies to deconstruct structural and systemic barriers to health equity and develop community-based interventions for underserved communities. Dr. Caso holds several leadership roles including Vice-Director of Inclusion and Accessibility for the Institute of Smart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies and Health Innovations (iSMART), Chair for American Psychological Association’s Division 17: Society for Counseling Psychology’s Section for the Advocacy of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (SASOGD). They have been the recipient of several grants and awards that recognize scholarship, service, advocacy, and activism that support and empower marginalized and underrepresented communities.

Chloe Angus
Chloe Angus is a visionary fashion designer and passionate advocate, seamlessly blending her creative prowess with a deep commitment to social impact. Born and raised in British Columbia, Canada, Chloe's connection, and respect for the First Nation’s Peoples deeply influences her work, infusing it with a profound sense of tradition, storytelling, and cultures coming together. After honing her craft at the esteemed Helen Lefeaux School of Fashion Design in Vancouver, Chloe embarked on a mission to intertwine Indigenous collaboration with contemporary fashion. In 2004, she established Chloe Angus Design, a label renowned for its distinctive fusion of Indigenous art, modern silhouettes, and sustainable practices. Her creations, celebrated on fashion runways worldwide, reflect a harmonious convergence of cultures. Beyond the realm of fashion, Chloe's impact extends to the forefront of spinal cord injury (SCI) research and innovation. As a founding member and Director of Lived Experience at Human In Motion Robotics Inc., she champions the development of cutting-edge assistive technology, particularly exoskeletons, to enhance mobility and independence for individuals with SCI.

Patrick Pilarski

Dr. Patrick Pilarski is a Canada CIFAR AI Chair and principal investigator with the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute and the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (RLAI). Dr. Pilarski’s research interests include reinforcement learning, real-time machine learning, human-machine interaction, rehabilitation technology, and assistive robotics. Within the SMART Network’s BLINC Lab (Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control), he leads an interdisciplinary initiative focused on creating intelligent artificial limbs to restore and extend abilities for people with amputations.

Lingzi Sang

Dr. Lingzi Sang obtained her B.S. from Xiamen University and her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Arizona. Prior to joining the Department of Chemistry at the University of Alberta, Dr. Sang conducted her postdoc research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.   Dr. Sang is an emerging independent investigator who seeks to advance materials and devices that convert and store energy harvested from sustainable resources. Dr. Sang’s research directly benefits Canada by discovering technologies that aid in the transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a sustainable economy. Starting as an independent principal investigator at the U of A in September 2018, Dr. Sang is developing analytical tools that directly measure the molecular processes occurring at the interfaces of the electrochemical devices in operation.

Rashid Mirzavand

Dr. Rashid Mirzavand Boroujeni is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada, where he leads the Intelligent Wireless Technology Group. He is also an Adjunct Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Alberta and an Adjunct Fellow with the Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, Australia. He was the co-founder and the chief technology officer of three companies in the smart sensor (SenZIoT), near-field measurement (Anteligen), and wireless power transfer technologies (WiDyne) from the University of Alberta. His work focuses on developing sensors and wireless sensor networks for smart health, home, and infrastructure applications. He also focuses on developing radio frequency systems, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces and antennas, and measurement systems. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and Specialty Chief Editor for Frontiers in the Internet of Things (IoT Enabling Technologies Section).

Marilène Oliver

Dr. Marilène Oliver works at a crossroads between new digital technologies, traditional print and sculpture, her finished objects bridging the virtual and the real worlds. Oliver uses various scanning technologies, such as MRI and CT to reclaim the interior of the body and create art works that allow us to materially contemplate our increasingly digitized selves. Her current research focuses on using medical scan data to create artistic XR experiences as part of multimedia installations. Marilène Oliver is an assistant professor of printmaking at the University of Alberta, Canada. Oliver studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art where she obtained an MPhil with research project ‘Flesh to Pixel, Flesh to Voxel, Flesh to XYZ’. Oliver has exhibited internationally in both private and public galleries including the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Wellcome Trust (UK), MassMoCA, Knoxville Museum of Art (USA) Frissarias Museum (Greece), Casino Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Fundació Sorigué(Spain) and The Glenbow Museum (Canada).

Dylan Brenneis

Drawing from experience as a Senior Research Engineer at Google DeepMind, and from developing internationally adopted open-source robots for prosthesis control research at the BLINC Lab, Dylan is now a Master of Fine Arts student at the University of Alberta with Marilène Oliver. He applies a research-creation methodology to continue exploring the relationships between humans and the machines they build by turning inspection back toward himself and machines of his own creation. His art examines the constant re-negotiation and blurring of the human-machine boundary as he and his (and we and our) machines become increasingly complex, capable, and inescapably intertwined.