Kristine R. Csavina, Ph.D.

Kristine (Kristy) Csavina has academic, clinical and industry experience that she brings to Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Csavina received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from University of Dayton in 1992 and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from Arizona State University in 2003. Her research interests include motion analysis of human motion in movement disorders, orthopedics and sports, human motion aided by wearable technologies, and engineering education research in student learning and pedagogical approaches.

Csavina comes to CSM from Arizona State University, where she was associate director for engineering program innovation in The Polytechnic School Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering programs in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.  She was the lead instructor for the two-semester senior capstone design experience, where she taught design and professional skills and managed over 20 student teams on eProjects (industry-partnered capstone experiences).  She was also active with the ABET accreditation, helping to develop the course assessment and program evaluation process for the department.  Prior to ASU, Csavina was founding faculty in the U.A. Whitaker College of Engineering at Florida Gulf Coast University.  As an assistant professor from 2007-2012, she helped develop the curriculum for the bioengineering design courses and for biomechanics, and was involved in teaching courses from the sophomore to senior levels.  Csavina had active research in biomechanics in partnership with physical therapy faculty at FGCU, including studies with Parkinson’s disease and stroke patients.

Csavina has a strong interest in improving her own teaching and in the research of pedagogical approaches in engineering education.  She is finishing work with the Consortium to Promote Reflection in Engineering Education (CPREE) as co-PI on ASU’s grant.  ASU was one of 12 institutions involved with this University of Washington initiative funded through the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Foundation.  She helped lead a yearlong campus effort to promote reflection at ASU, hosted several reflection workshops at national conferences, and presented work resulting from her own research on reflection in design courses.  She has participated in ASCE’s Excellence in Civil Engineering Education (ExCEEd) Teaching Workshop in 2008 and served as an assistant mentor for the 2013 ExCEEd Teaching Workshop. She has attended various workshops in engineering education research and presented her work with colleagues at the American Association of Engineering Education (ASEE) for over ten years.

Csavina has previous clinical and industry experience.  From 2013-2016 she consulted with Phoenix area companies, including British Aerospace Engineering, to assist with the analysis of human motion influenced by exoskeletons and wearable technologies.  From 2005-2007 she served as director of the SHRI-CORE Orthopedic Research Labs in Sun City West, Arizona, helping to start a full gait lab for orthopedic research and a biomechanics lab for bone/implant testing. From 1992-1997, she worked at NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, as a test engineer in several different aeronautical test facilities.