By Mary Giuffrida <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Assistant Research Professor Amanda Mills<\/a> has always had NC State on her mind, so it\u2019s no surprise that after graduating from Mississippi State University with a bachelor\u2019s in mechanical engineering, Dr. Mills earned both her master\u2019s and doctorate in mechanical engineering right here in Raleigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was really hoping for NC State,\u201d Mills says. \u201cSo when I applied and got in, it was really exciting.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n NC State may have been a longtime goal for Mills, but research in textiles was not a part of the plan. Initially, she was part of a research team at the ASSIST Center<\/a>, a recently opened research center focused on wearable and smart technologies for health monitoring, led by Professor Yong Zhu. There, she helped research and develop stretchable electronics using silver nanowires. However, she soon found herself frustrated with the lack of real world application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI realized I was frustrated with the packaging of what we were working on,\u201d Mills says. \u201cWe\u2019re making these devices, and they work really well, but how do you integrate them into a real product?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was these questions that led her to Professor Jesse Jur, whom she had met at the ASSIST Center. Dr. Jur was leading a project focused on mapping thermal energy harvesting locations on the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After finishing her master\u2019s with Zhu, Mills transitioned to working with Jur in his lab at the Wilson College of Textiles for her Ph.D. There she studied the integration of textiles and body mapping, developing a knit shirt that could detect heat transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After earning her Ph.D., Mills stayed at NC State as a research associate and project manager for the Nano-Extended Textiles (NEXT) Research Group<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The experience sparked a passion for curbing misconceptions surrounding higher education and research. She is currently the Senior Design<\/a> co-director at the Wilson College, facilitating the intensive year-long projects completed by seniors in textile engineering<\/a> and textile technology<\/a> in collaboration with industry leaders. Mills has also collaborated with the Research Experience for Undergraduates<\/a> to provide opportunities for undergraduate students in the department of textile engineering, chemistry and science<\/a> to contribute to faculty and graduate student research. She organized workshops that taught students how to prepare for job interviews, curate their resumes and identify unconscious bias in research, all in the hopes of encouraging more students to consider graduate school as a part of their futures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI feel like there\u2019s a misconception around research,\u201d Mills says. \u201cStudents feel like they have to be perfect, and while, yes, you need good grades, research is more about resilience and problem-solving.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mills feels every student deserves a chance to take part in the research process. While the environment is not right for everyone, she says no student should feel deterred from experiencing the process and exploring the research that they find engaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, the path of Mills\u2019 own research has shifted. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic meant universities transitioned to online learning. This shift brought a gap in how textiles are taught to the attention of the researchers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe thing about textiles is how tangible they are, and how you can assess a lot of their properties by feel,\u201d Mills explains. \u201cWhen you\u2019re remote, you can\u2019t feel a textile through a computer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Caitlin Knowles, one of the NEXT graduate students, took the initiative to apply for a grant which would be used to look for solutions to this remote learning divide. The research funded by this grant has turned into a large virtual reality effort by the NEXT Research Group. Their goal is to create tools which would allow students to gather data in the same way they might by handling a textile, but in a remote setting. This textile handling effort is being led by another NEXT graduate student, Zo\u00eb Rosenberg, who just recently passed her Ph.D. defense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking into how we can simulate textiles,\u201d Mills says. \u201cThat way you can still get that tangibility and data from the textile that you can use to make design decisions without being physically present.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with bridging the gap between in-person and virtual learning, the NEXT Research Group has also been focusing on sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can address sustainability, and we can address smart textile manufacturing, by making it more domestic, but in doing so you have to look at how we handle textiles.\u201d Mills says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The research group is investigating ways of manipulating textiles using automation. They are studying how textiles can be moved and placed with accuracy in an automated way. This would reduce the need for human operators, allowing textile manufacturing to be moved domestically and in turn subjecting it to stricter environmental monitoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Working on big-picture issues such as sustainability and projects with real-world impacts are incredibly rewarding, which is why Mills encourages students to take every opportunity available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of failure,\u201d Mills says. \u201cSo many people will hold themselves back from opportunities if they don\u2019t feel it\u2019s perfect, because that\u2019s what\u2019s comfortable. Research isn\u2019t comfortable, but it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false,"raw":"\n\n\n\n\n By Mary Giuffrida <\/p>\n\n\n\n Assistant Research Professor Amanda Mills<\/a> has always had NC State on her mind, so it\u2019s no surprise that after graduating from Mississippi State University with a bachelor\u2019s in mechanical engineering, Dr. Mills earned both her master\u2019s and doctorate in mechanical engineering right here in Raleigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was really hoping for NC State,\u201d Mills says. \u201cSo when I applied and got in, it was really exciting.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n NC State may have been a longtime goal for Mills, but research in textiles was not a part of the plan. Initially, she was part of a research team at the ASSIST Center<\/a>, a recently opened research center focused on wearable and smart technologies for health monitoring, led by Professor Yong Zhu. There, she helped research and develop stretchable electronics using silver nanowires. However, she soon found herself frustrated with the lack of real world application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI realized I was frustrated with the packaging of what we were working on,\u201d Mills says. \u201cWe\u2019re making these devices, and they work really well, but how do you integrate them into a real product?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was these questions that led her to Professor Jesse Jur, whom she had met at the ASSIST Center. Dr. Jur was leading a project focused on mapping thermal energy harvesting locations on the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After finishing her master\u2019s with Zhu, Mills transitioned to working with Jur in his lab at the Wilson College of Textiles for her Ph.D. There she studied the integration of textiles and body mapping, developing a knit shirt that could detect heat transfer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After earning her Ph.D., Mills stayed at NC State as a research associate and project manager for the Nano-Extended Textiles (NEXT) Research Group<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The experience sparked a passion for curbing misconceptions surrounding higher education and research. She is currently the Senior Design<\/a> co-director at the Wilson College, facilitating the intensive year-long projects completed by seniors in textile engineering<\/a> and textile technology<\/a> in collaboration with industry leaders. Mills has also collaborated with the Research Experience for Undergraduates<\/a> to provide opportunities for undergraduate students in the department of textile engineering, chemistry and science<\/a> to contribute to faculty and graduate student research. She organized workshops that taught students how to prepare for job interviews, curate their resumes and identify unconscious bias in research, all in the hopes of encouraging more students to consider graduate school as a part of their futures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI feel like there\u2019s a misconception around research,\u201d Mills says. \u201cStudents feel like they have to be perfect, and while, yes, you need good grades, research is more about resilience and problem-solving.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mills feels every student deserves a chance to take part in the research process. While the environment is not right for everyone, she says no student should feel deterred from experiencing the process and exploring the research that they find engaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More recently, the path of Mills\u2019 own research has shifted. The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic meant universities transitioned to online learning. This shift brought a gap in how textiles are taught to the attention of the researchers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe thing about textiles is how tangible they are, and how you can assess a lot of their properties by feel,\u201d Mills explains. \u201cWhen you\u2019re remote, you can\u2019t feel a textile through a computer.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Caitlin Knowles, one of the NEXT graduate students, took the initiative to apply for a grant which would be used to look for solutions to this remote learning divide. The research funded by this grant has turned into a large virtual reality effort by the NEXT Research Group. Their goal is to create tools which would allow students to gather data in the same way they might by handling a textile, but in a remote setting. This textile handling effort is being led by another NEXT graduate student, Zo\u00eb Rosenberg, who just recently passed her Ph.D. defense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking into how we can simulate textiles,\u201d Mills says. \u201cThat way you can still get that tangibility and data from the textile that you can use to make design decisions without being physically present.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with bridging the gap between in-person and virtual learning, the NEXT Research Group has also been focusing on sustainability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe can address sustainability, and we can address smart textile manufacturing, by making it more domestic, but in doing so you have to look at how we handle textiles.\u201d Mills says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The research group is investigating ways of manipulating textiles using automation. They are studying how textiles can be moved and placed with accuracy in an automated way. This would reduce the need for human operators, allowing textile manufacturing to be moved domestically and in turn subjecting it to stricter environmental monitoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Working on big-picture issues such as sustainability and projects with real-world impacts are incredibly rewarding, which is why Mills encourages students to take every opportunity available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cDon\u2019t be afraid of failure,\u201d Mills says. \u201cSo many people will hold themselves back from opportunities if they don\u2019t feel it\u2019s perfect, because that\u2019s what\u2019s comfortable. Research isn\u2019t comfortable, but it\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n"},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Assistant Research Professor Amanda Mills discusses her path to the Wilson College of Textiles, her research and her dedication to providing research opportunities for students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":26118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/default-post-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"displayCategoryID\":2131,\"caption\":\"\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[742,490,512,479],"tags":[2061,1758,1143,1058,2327,2598,504,513,505,727,2599,2600,1382],"displayCategory":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"