Yakira Mirabito

Yakira Mirabito is a School of Engineering Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow in mechanical engineering whose research is focused on decision-making in design and the integration of engineering design with organizational management. The goal of her work is to empower engineers to build higher-performance products through innovative design processes that integrate sociotechnical factors. In her doctoral research, Yakira investigated the impacts of various sociotechnical aspects of the design process on design performance, including concept generation, concept selection, design communication, and team dynamics. As a postdoctoral fellow, she aims to quantify the impacts of hierarchy (i.e., power and status) on decision-making, enhance the effectiveness of design-rational communication, and integrate these findings into design education and practice. By building a greater understanding of decision-making in engineering design and leveraging that knowledge to develop innovative design support tools, Yakira’s research has strong potential to improve design and product performance while enhancing equity and inclusion in engineering, industry, and society at large.