Daniela Faas

Both inside and outside the classroom, Daniela’s goal is to broaden participation in engineering education, especially in the field of fabrication and prototyping.

Her mission is to empower all students to use and master the tools of engineering production and prototyping and strives to ensure that students, faculty, and staff are part of compelling, inclusive and safe educational environments.  

Prior to joining Olin College, Dr. Faas was the senior preceptor in design instruction at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science at Harvard University. Dr. Faas was a Shapiro postdoctoral fellow in the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT after receiving her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Human-Computer Interaction from Iowa State University, developing low cost immersive Virtual Reality applications for products and systems. Dr. Faas graduated from Bucknell University with her M.S. in Mechanical Engineering and joint B.S./B.A. in Mechanical Engineering and International Relations. Dr. Faas is currently a research affiliate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT. Her research focuses on the early stage design process and methodology and engineering education with a focus on fabrication and prototyping in the classroom.