Ellen Novoseller – 2022 Wonderfest Science Envoy

Ellen Novoseller is a postdoctoral researcher in Professor Ken Goldberg’s group at UC Berkeley. She was previously a PhD student at Caltech, where she worked on optimizing an assistive exoskeleton’s walking patterns by learning from user preference feedback. Her current research focuses on developing machine learning algorithms for robot manipulation of deformable objects such as fabric and cables, which are prevalent in daily life but challenging for robots to handle reliably. Ellen hopes to develop robot systems that assist people in performing day-to-day tasks, adapt to specific users’ needs and preferences, and improve quality of life for individuals with limited mobility. In her spare time, Ellen enjoys playing piano, hiking, and reading.