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2 years 8 monthsEmily Simonds is a second year Master’s student in the Bioengineering program. She graduated with her Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in December 2013. In May of 2014, she was awarded a year-long FIPSE grant (Fund for Improvement of Post Secondary Education) that provided her the opportunity to do the first year of her graduate studies abroad in St. Petersburg, Russia. She completed this grant in July of 2015, and is now working on her thesis project to develop a variable stiffness foot orthosis. She also works and teaches part time as a graduate research assistant at CSX corporation, helping to promote safety through teaching principles of biomechanics. She is certified to teach both English and Russian, and currently teaches a Russian course twice a week. She is the president of the Woodruff School Graduate Women’s group on Georgia Tech campus. Her volunteer work includes mentoring high school robotics teams in the metro Atlanta area and tutoring English. In her free time, she likes to play ice hockey and write.
This thesis centers around the design and prototyping of a variable stiffness foot orthosis, specifically a foot insole. The goal is for this device to imitate a wide range of material properties exhibited in commercially available materials all in one customizable insole. To achieve this, it employs granular jamming technology.