Amanda Mills

Bio

Dr. Amanda Mills is the principal investigator of SHIFT (Smart Holistically Integrated and Functional Textiles) Research Group, Senior Director of the TE/TT Senior Capstone Program, program lead for the TECS REU summer program, and an Assistant Professor in the Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science Department.

She received her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Mississippi State University in 2012 and continued her studies in Mechanical Engineering at NC State University, receiving her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 2014 and 2017 respectively. She began her research journey as an undergraduate student looking at piston design for improved combustion in diesel engines and conducting energy audits at small manufacturing plants with the Industrial Assessment Center. In graduate school, she created stretchable electronic sensors for physiological monitoring by embedding silver nanowires (AgNW) in elastic materials (PDMS) for her master’s research. After taking a course on knit product design, Dr. Mills shifted her research focus to thermal properties of knit structures. She conducted a study that compared the effect of knit structures on the thermal energy harvesting efficiency from the human body. She also generated a ‘body map’ that identified optimal locations for integrating thermal energy harvesters into garments.

After graduation, Dr. Mills worked as an industry project manager for the NEXT (Nano-EXtended Textiles) Research Group where she designed and made integrated electronic textile (e-textile) systems for a variety of applications including: electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyogram (EMG) monitoring, transcutaneous blood alcohol detection, haptic stimulation, and strain sensing. She worked with graduate students on ink-jet printing multi-layer structures on textiles, printed antennas, textile simulation, digital twins, and robotic handling of textiles for automation.

In her spare time, she enjoys knitting, crocheting, yoga, being active outdoors, cooking, reading, and spending time with her husband, Steven, and her dog, Tuna. She loves to travel, has a fascination of languages (although she only speaks English), and loves singing and dancing.

Publications

• Biological tissue for transcatheter aortic valve: The effect of crimping on fatigue strength , JOURNAL OF THE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS (2024)
• Comparative study of physical and virtual fabric parameters: physical versus virtual drape test using commercial 3D garment software , JOURNAL OF THE TEXTILE INSTITUTE (2024)
• Enhancing Biosignal Quality in Electrocardiogram Monitoring Garments: Validation of a Simulation-Based Contact Pressure Model , ACS APPLIED ENGINEERING MATERIALS (2024)
• An airflow-driven system for scalable production of nano-microfiber wrapped triboelectric yarns for wearable applications , CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL (2023)
• Design strategies for e-textile manufacturing , Smart Clothes and Wearable Technology (2023)
• Simulation techniques for smart textile predictive design , 8TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTELLIGENT TEXTILES & MASS CUSTOMISATION (2023)
• Simulation-Based Contact Pressure Prediction Model to Optimize Health Monitoring Using E-Textile Integrated Garment , IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL (2023)
• A Wearable Electrocardiography Armband Resilient Against Artifacts , IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL (2022)
• Design of a scalable, flexible, and durable thermoelectric cooling device for soft electronics using Kirigami cut patterns , FLEXIBLE AND PRINTED ELECTRONICS (2022)
• Virtual Hands-on Learning–The development of an online engineering design course with a virtual product inspection portal , American Society for Engineering Education (2022)