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About

Nathan Mentzer is an engineering education researcher whose work sits at the compelling intersection of robotics, equity, and STEM pedagogy. Best known for his pioneering use of soft robotics as an educational tool, Mentzer has spent over a decade developing curriculum interventions that make engineering more accessible and appealing to diverse student populations, particularly women and underrepresented groups. His most-cited work, "Increasing Gender Diversity in Engineering Using Soft Robotics" (2021, 42 citations), demonstrates how soft robot design experiences can address key barriers to women's participation in engineering, including self-efficacy and perceived societal relevance. Alongside colleagues, he also developed a modular, reconfigurable mold system for pneumatic soft robotic grippers (32 citations), lowering the barrier for classroom adoption of this emerging technology. Through NSF-funded research partnerships with high school teachers, Mentzer has translated laboratory innovations into scalable classroom curricula, examining how design-based learning shapes students' engineering identities and motivation. His more recent work on collaborative robotics for healthcare contexts continues this thread, engaging underrepresented students through socially meaningful applications. Collectively, his contributions have meaningfully advanced the conversation around broadening participation in STEM through thoughtful, equity-centered engineering education.