image of Erin Keaney

Erin Keaney, Ph.D.

Research Scientist, Adjunct Faculty, COO and Co-Founder of Nonspec

College
Francis College of Engineering
Department
Plastics Engineering
Phone
978-934-2199
Office
ETIC 205

Expertise


Medical Device Design, Medical Device Manufacturing, Flexible Hybrid Electronics, Prosthetics and Orthotics, Optical Compounding

Research Interests

  • Affordable medical device development
  • Rubber 3D printing and multi-layer barrier rubber
  • Stretchable printed electronics
  • Flexible hybrid electronics and encapsulation
  • Hydrophilic, hydrophobic, and icephobic spray coatings

Education

Ph.D.: Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
M.S.: Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
B.S.: Plastics Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Biosketch

Erin Keaney, Ph.D. earned her degrees in Plastics Engineering from UMass Lowell. During her graduate program her concentration was in Medical Device Design and Manufacturing, and her Ph.D. focused on optical compounding. She teaches Medical Device Design I and Fundamentals of Medical Device Regulation for Plastics and Biomedical, respectively. She is the co-founder and COO of Nonspec, which makes low cost, adjustable prosthetic limbs for amputees worldwide. She was a winner of MassChallenge Boston in 2017 and a Cartier Woman Initiative Award finalist his year. Erin Keaney is the Chair of the Next Generation Advisory Board for the Society of Plastics Engineers, dedicated to connecting students and young professionals to the industry. She is also the founding Scoutmaster for Scouts BSA Girls troop in her hometown of Groton.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Nominated as Rising Star by Plastics News 2020
  • EmpoweringPeople Award Winner by Siemens Stiftung 2019
  • Cartier Woman's Initiative Award Winner 2018
  • MassChallenge Boston Gold Winner 2017
  • Graduate Raymond Normandin Materials Award 2017

Selected Publications

  • "Extrusion of Highly-filled Flexible Polymer Sheet" Deshmukh, Shruti; Burbine, Stephen; Keaney, Erin; Banejee, Shib Shankar; Panwar, Artee; Peters, Christopher; Herndon, Mary; Rockosi, Derrick; Mead, Joey; Barry, Carol, Polymer Engineering and Science Vol. 60, Issue 12, Aug. 25, 2020
  • "Refractive Index Matching for High Light Transmission Composite Systems" Erin Keaney, John Shearer, Artee Panwar, Joey Mead, Journal of Composite Materials, Volume 52, Issue 24, Sept. 2018
  • "Exploring Powder Treatments to Improve Filler Incorporation for Optical Compounds" Erin Keaney, John Shearer, Artee Panwar, Joey Mead, Color and Appearance Division, SPE ANTEC 2017, Anaheim, CA (full presentation and paper)
  • "Printed planar tunable composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna based on a tunable polymer-BST substrate" Ehsan Hajisaeid, Shruti Deshmukh, Stephen J. Burbine, Erin E. Keaney, Claire Lepont, Mary Herndon, Carol Barry, Joey Mead, Alkim Akyurtlu, Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, Wiley Online Library, Sept. 18, 2020

Selected Presentations

  • Co-Moderator for Plastics in Electronics Conference, SPE, Oct. 1, 2020
  • "Don't Give Away: Attractive Alternatives to VC Funding" Presentation for Startup Boston Week, Sept. 25, 2020

Selected Intellectual Property

Patent US09333096