Prof. Cobb joined the UW from Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Inc. where she was a Senior Member of Research Staff leading research projects on advanced manufacturing technologies for solar cells, batteries and high strength and toughness materials. At PARC, Prof. Cobb specialized in computational analysis, hardware design and process development for printing and patterning of multi-functional materials. Her research has been funded by grants from DOE EERE, ARPA-E, DARPA and industrial partners. Prior to PARC, Prof. Cobb was a mechanical design engineer at Applied Materials and held positions at Hewlett-Packard, Bell Labs, Google and Toshiba. During her doctoral studies, Prof. Cobb’s research focused on developing computational design synthesis and optimization tools for Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS).

Prof. Cobb received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. She holds a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a bachelor’s degree in Product Design from Stanford University.

Washington Research Foundation (WRF) Innovation Professor in Clean Energy, 2017-present
Professor – Mechanical Engineering, 2021-present
Adjunct Professor – Human Centered Design & Engineering, 2023-present
Member Faculty – Clean Energy Institute (CEI), 2017- present
Member Faculty – Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute (MolES), 2017- present

Chair, Pacific Northwest Section of The Electrochemical Society, 2023-present
Director, Advanced Experience Program in Clean Energy, 2018-present

Tenure-Track Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, 2017-2021
Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Inc. (formerly Xerox PARC), Senior Member of Research Staff, 2015-2017
Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), Inc. (formerly Xerox PARC), Member of Research Staff, 2010-2015
Applied Materials, Mechanical Engineer, 2008-2010
Google, Platforms Intern, Summer 2007
Bell Labs, Graduate Research Intern, Summer 2003
Hewlett-Packard, Product Design Intern, Summer 2002
Toshiba Design Center, Design Intern, Summer 2001
Hewlett-Packard, Mechanical Engineering Intern, Summer 2000

Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
Dissertation: Case-based Reasoning for MEMS (Microelectromechanical Systems) Design Synthesis
Focus Areas: Design, Mechanics of Materials, Information Management and Systems

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University
Focus Areas: Design for Manufacturability, Design Analysis and Technology, Design Methodology

B.S. in Product Design, Stanford University
Focus Areas: User-centered Design, Rapid Prototyping, Mechanical Systems

2023 Washington State Academy of Sciences
2021 DARPA Director’s Fellowship
2019 DARPA Young Faculty Award
2019 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award
2019 National Academy of Engineering EU-US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium (Invited Session Organizer)
2015 National Academy of Engineering China-America Frontiers of Engineering Symposium (Invited Participant)
2015 PARC Golden Acorn Award
2015 SiliconPV Award for Best Paper
2005 Alfred P. Sloan Scholar
2002 Bell Labs Cooperative Research Fellowship Program (CRFP) Fellow

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