Carolyn Conner Seepersad

Dr. Carolyn Conner Seepersad is an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and General Dynamics Faculty Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. She received a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech in 2004, an MA/BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University in 1998, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University in 1996.

She is a former Rhodes Scholar, Hertz Fellow, and NSF Graduate Fellow. Dr. Seepersad’s research involves the development of methods and computational tools for engineering design and additive manufacturing. Her research interests include simulation-based design of complex systems and materials, design for additive manufacturing, innovation, and environmentally conscious design of products and energy systems.

In 2009, Dr. Seepersad was the inaugural recipient of the International Outstanding Young Researcher Award in Freeform and Additive Manufacturing from the additive manufacturing community. In 2010, she received the University of Texas Regents’ Award for Outstanding Teaching by an Assistant Professor, the highest teaching award for faculty in The University of Texas System. In 2013, she received ASEE’s Outstanding New Mechanical Engineering Educator award. Dr. Seepersad is the recipient of a Best Paper Award for the 2009 ASME Design Theory and Methodology Conference and two best paper awards for the 2010 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition.

Dr. Seepersad is also the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed conference and journal publications and one book. She co-organizes the annual Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium. She has also been a participant (2010) and session organizer (2012) for the annual NAE Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, a symposium organized by the NAE for a select group of emerging engineering leaders ages 30-45, and an invited speaker for the 2013 German-American FOE. She teaches courses on product design, additive manufacturing, and design of complex engineered systems.

Dr. Seepersad is married to Clyde Seepersad, also a Rhodes Scholar from the Caribbean region, whom she met in Oxford. They have two children, Paige and Carter.