Saeedeh Ziaeefard
Papers
9
Total Citations
138
H-Index
5
About
Saeedeh Ziaeefard is an engineering education researcher whose work sits at the vibrant intersection of robotics, hands-on learning, and STEM outreach, with a particular focus on engaging underrepresented and early-stage learners. She is best known for her pioneering research on co-robotic pedagogical platforms — collaborative robots used as educational tools to make STEM concepts tangible and meaningful. Her most influential work, "Co-robotics hands-on activities: A Gateway to Engineering Design and STEM Learning" (2017), has garnered 74 citations and established her as a leading voice in experiential robotics education. A cornerstone of her research portfolio is the GUPPIE project — an underwater 3D-printed robot designed to teach control systems and engineering design through real-world environmental contexts such as oceanographic monitoring — which she has applied across multiple middle school and university settings. Ziaeefard has also demonstrated a sustained commitment to equity in STEM, examining motivation factors among girls in robotics programs and developing human-interactive robotic curricula tailored to middle school audiences. Across her body of work, she consistently demonstrates that meaningful, context-driven, project-based robotics experiences are powerful catalysts for broadening student engagement with engineering and autonomous systems.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 3A human-interactive robotic program for middle school STEM education13 citations · 2017
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- 8Adding Meaningful Context to Robotics Programs (Work in Progress)2 citations · 2016
- 9Monitoring Motivation Factors for Girls in Summer Robotics Program2 citations · 2020