Hello! I am Aliaa Maar
Designer | Design researcher
Design educator | Maker spaces leader
I explore how people interact, collaborate, and make decisions in design settings. My work blends behavioral modeling, emerging technologies, and inclusive, critical pedagogies to connect human and engineering perspectives in the design process.
Designer, researcher, and creative maker.
I design and study experiences that sit at the intersection of engineering design, human behavior, and technology. I am a Postdoctoral Design Researcher studying human behavior in human–AI collaboration—how designers interact with AI agents in engineering and virtual environments, and how those interactions show up in decisions, CAD models, and prototypes.
Alongside research, I serve as associate director of outreach and a creative prototyping instructor, leading hands-on workshops that center experiential and inclusive learning through design.
With 14+ years across academia and industry, I blend research expertise, industry practice, and a love for design thinking and making—exploring how emerging tech (AI, VR, immersive tools) can shape future collaborative design spaces. Across all my work, I aim to advance human-centered approaches that connect people, technology, and creativity.
- Human-centered design
- Design research (mixed methods)
- Facilitation & teaching
- Human–AI collaboration
- Ergonomics & human variability
- Prototyping & maker spaces
PhD · MSc · MTech · BSc
In today’s design practice, designers often default to men’s experiences while overlooking the needs of marginalized users, including women. Because design and engineering remain male-dominated fields, androcentric practices persist, with products and systems primarily created by men for men users. These practices have had serious consequences for women’s health, safety, and well-being across many areas. The present research hypothesizes that biased design outcomes are the accumulation of gendered biases that begin in the early stages of the design process—through designer collaboration, empathy toward users, and the conceptualization of user needs. These biases also reflect broader social and cultural structures that have historically devalued women’s needs and confined them to limited supportive roles. Building on feminist design scholarship, the dissertation examines how gender dynamics shape collaboration and user-centered design in its formative stages.
Phase 1 investigates both actual and perceived contributions within mixed-gender and homogeneous virtual design settings, examining how design and communication interactions unfold and how gender composition influences psychological safety. Using a controlled, multi-objective collaborative task with behavioral modeling and statistical analysis, it shows that design behaviors and safety perceptions shift with gender composition, informing gender-sensitive collaborative practices.
Phase 2 examines empathy tools—dispositional scales and persona-based scenarios—to see how shared gendered experiences and stereotypes about personas shape contextual empathy. A controlled human-subjects study highlights misalignment between general empathic traits and contextual empathy toward personas of differing gender conformity, showing how gender stereotypes shape applied and emotive empathy. The findings call for contextualized, gender- and stereotype-aware empathy tools to better address diverse user needs.
Phase 3 analyzes how designers’ conceptualization of user needs is shaped by gender alignment with personas and persona conformity to stereotypically gendered traits. Regression modeling shows how alignment, persona gender, designer gender, and persona traits influence emphasis on early concept characteristics (functionality, aesthetics, etc.), revealing gender- and stereotype-specific predictors of design emphasis and expression.
By integrating theoretical perspectives from the social sciences with empirical studies of design practice, this dissertation contributes to a holistic understanding of how gender dynamics shape early-stage design. It emphasizes how collaboration, empathy, and the conceptualization of user needs are influenced by gendered roles, perceptions, and stereotypes. These findings provide a foundation for developing critical, gender-sensitive approaches and for creating tools and frameworks that counter systemic exclusion, ensuring that women’s and marginalized users’ experiences are more fully represented in design practice.
Mixed-method study of collaboration in design teams with different gender compositions, bridging design theory and social science methods.
Work on additive manufacturing for high-power-density solid oxide fuel cells and control systems—linking energy, automation, and design.
Capstone on the design and control of a 4-DOF trajectory planner, grounding my practice in core mechanical and control principles.
Empathy, gender, human variability & AI in design.
This research portfolio spans gender dynamics and psychological safety in design teams, contextual empathy with personas, facilitation behaviors, human–AI collaboration in VR, ergonomics and human-variability standards, and care/justice-oriented perspectives on design. Projects blend behavioral modeling, eye tracking, design justice theory, and mixed methods.
Interaction patterns, psychological safety, and trust in virtual teams with different gender compositions.
Examining how expert designers coordinate actions and decision sequences using collaborative design metrics and behavioral modeling.
Explores how general empathy relates to designers’ empathy toward users and how gendered persona stereotypes influence that empathy.
Investigates how perceived societal gender schemas influence designers’ perception of user needs and the emphasis they place on design concept characteristics.
Investigates how design thinking facilitators’ behaviors shape participant responses, team climate, and trust for more effective facilitation.
Ongoing study on how collaborating with an AI versus a human teammate shapes designers’ collaboration patterns during a configuration design task for product development.
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Ongoing study of how AI collaborators can shape human behavior in critical infrastructure scenarios inside VR through social computing techniques, leveraging eye tracking and machine learning.
Explores the limits of univariate analysis for multivariate human accommodation, using the ANSI/HFES 100-2007 standard as a case study.
Ongoing project exploring how emerging technology reshapes designers’ roles through a care and care-ethics lens, rethinking design practice and futures.
Ongoing systematic review analyzes how design research over the past decade reinforces or challenges binary divides in designers, users, and nature.
Improving SOFC performance through designed and additively manufactured ceramic catalyst and manifold components, optimizing flow and thermal efficiency.
Explored the design and manufacture of a low-cost tactile tablet for blind and visually impaired people, enabling refreshable tactile graphics to access visual imagery.
Courses and labs developed & instructed.
Curriculum design, lab development, and instruction across mechanical engineering topics, CAD/visualization, control systems, and hands-on outreach.
- Developed: Introduction to ME205: Computer-Aided Design.
- Developed: ME470: Advanced Visualization and Simulation.
- Developed: ME360L: Instrumentation and Control Systems Engineering Lab.
- Instructed: ME360 Instrumentation and Control Systems Engineering.
- Instructed: ME307L Thermal Fluids Lab I and II.
- Instructed: ME201L Materials Science Engineering Lab.
- Instructed: ME206L Mechanics of Materials Engineering Lab.
- Delivered ME summer camp sessions (grades 9–12): Intro to mechanical engineering and mechatronics.
Design Events at the Learning Factory.
These events (BUILD Nights) are intentionally joyful and hands-on, mixing skill levels from first-time makers to advanced prototypers. Use the “See more” buttons to reveal the full flyer set and the photo gallery.
- 60+ Design Events planned and/or facilitated.
- Collaborations with IEEE, oSTEM, MEGA, NSBE, and others.
- Sponsorship by Boeing, CNH, Wabtech, Autodesk, Dyson, and more.
- Workshops linked to social impact, food loss, and assistive technology.
Event examples
Snaps from events
College of Engineering events at Alfaisal University.
As Events & Activities Coordinator, I led college-wide activities and event organization and coordination. These events included seminars, workshops, capstone/design showcases, and partner-sponsored events with ABB, Boeing, and others. Responsibilities included planning, judging coordination, MC duties, and awards announcements.
- Seminars, technical workshops, and partner-sponsored sessions (ABB, Boeing, etc.).
- Capstone and design project showcases with judging rounds and winning team announcements.
- Logistics, stakeholder coordination, and MC’ing across college-wide events.
CAD, advanced manufacturing & industry work.
CAD professional/educator work: weldments, drawings, surfacing, sheet metal, GD&T, sustainability, DfAM, and advanced visualization & simulation—using CAD as a communication and iteration tool. Includes FEA and validation (load cases, thermal checks, tolerances) to de-risk designs.
Ground Support Equipment and industry projects—detailed drawings, assemblies, and collaboration with fabrication teams to deliver production-ready designs.
Art, photography, & dialogue.
Creative work that keeps me grounded and shapes how I see design, people, and the world around me.
I love painting and mixing splashes of colors and layers. Working with mixed media is something I truly enjoy, and for me, it’s a form of creative expression and a passion I deeply care about.
I also enjoy photography, which sharpens my attention to detail of the things and creatures around me and helps me see beauty in small, often overlooked moments.
I host a conversational podcast where I discuss everyday mental health topics and share thoughtful reflections through stories of resilience and survival.
Let’s connect!
Open to collaborations on human behavior and decision-making design research, outreach events, maker-space initiatives, and human–AI or VR/AR-based design experiments.
- Email: amaar@psu.edu · alimubmaar@gmail.com
- Location: University Park, PA, USA
- CV: Download full CV (PDF)
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aliaamaar
Next steps could be anything from co-designing a new study, collaborating on Outreach Events or maker courses, or exploring design for social impact, human–AI teaming in immersive environments. I’m also happy to connect about open roles. I’d love to hear from you!
