Siobhan Rigby Oca
Assistant Professor of The Practice in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Siobhan Oca's research focusses on medical robotics and robotics education. Specifically, she is interested in developing safe and effective autonomous medical procedures. Her doctoral research focussed on development of autonomous ultrasound scanning with robotic arm, implemented in a human study, which also assessed trust and safety. Since starting as faculty, she has studies the methods used in teaching robotics to understand their efficacy in student learning and perception of robotics as a future career field.
She leads the Masters programs in Robotics for MEMS and is passionate about robotics curricula development that prepares students for their future in robotics and impacts on society, including through her Case Studies of Ethics in Robotics and Autonomy course.
Appointments and Affiliations
- Assistant Professor of The Practice in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
- Assistant Director for Robotics and Autonomy in the Thomas Lord Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science
Contact Information
- Email Address: siobhan.rigby@duke.edu
Education
- Ph.D. Duke University, 2022
- M.S. University of California San Francisco, School of Medicine, 2017
- B.S. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2016
Research Interests
Robotics Education, Medical Robotics, Human Robot Interaction, Engineering Education
Courses Taught
- BME 590: Special Topics in Biomedical Engineering
- ECE 383: Introduction to Robotics and Automation
- ECE 392: Projects in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- ECE 495: Special Topics in Electrical and Computer Engineering
- EGR 393: Research Projects in Engineering
- ME 442: Introduction to Robotics and Automation
- ME 490: Special Topics in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 491: Special Projects in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 555: Advanced Topics in Mechanical Engineering
- ME 591: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
- ME 592: Research Independent Study in Mechanical Engineering or Material Science
In the News
- It All Connects to Climate (May 23, 2023 | Duke Today)
- Engineering an Engaging Curriculum in Robotics (Apr 25, 2023)
- Siobhan Rigby Oca: Designing Robotics Education at Duke (Aug 19, 2022 | Pratt Engineering, Duke)
- Undergraduate Course in Robotics Gets Reboot with Help of Engineering Doctoral Student (Nov 16, 2021)
- Bass Instructional Fellowships Broaden Teaching, Career Opportunities (Nov 10, 2021)
- NASA Climbs Aboard with Support for Robot Project (Jun 26, 2020)
Representative Publications
- Oca, SR; Navas, A; Leiman, E; Buckland, DM, Effect of language interpretation modality on throughput and mortality for critical care patients: A retrospective observational study., J Am Coll Emerg Physicians Open, vol 2 no. 4 (2021) [10.1002/emp2.12477] [abs].