I am a PhD student at MIT co-advised by Alberto Rodriguez and Tomás Lozano-Pérez. I work in the MCube Lab (Manipulation and Mechanisms at MIT) and LIS Group (Learning and Intelligent Systems). Prior to MIT, I completed my undergraduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University in computer science and robotics and was advised by Siddhartha Srinivasa.

Research: I am generally interested in dexterous manipulation and constrained manipulation planning. I'm currently focused on planning for multi-step manipulation tasks that require reasoning over motion, contact and force constraints. Some past research highlights include: 

• Planning framework for multi-step forceful manipulation that leverages task and motion planning (TAMP)
• Formulation of tool use as a constrained manipulation planning problem
• Mechanics and algorithms for in-hand manipulation via prehensile pushing
• Distance metrics and algorithms for constrained motion planning with task space constraints

Outreach: I am deeply invested in opening up STEM to younger generations and contributing to my community. A few major current efforts include: 

• Mentoring a gender-minority high school FIRST Tech Challenge robotics team, the Winsor Wildbots, Team 13620
• Serving in EECS REFS (Resources for Easing Friction and Stress), a peer support group trained to help fellow graduate students manage stress and conflict
• Co-founding and co-leading GWiRC (Graduate Women in Robotics Community), a student group focused building a tighter-knit community, across departments, for the female-identifying robotics researchers at MIT

Miscellaneous: My academic lineage is more of a "family graph" than a "family tree".