I’m a proud graduate of the University of Minnesota - so when I get the chance to talk about my awesome alma mater, I will wave the flag high. When I heard about apparel professor Lucy Dunne’s work embedding technology into clothing, I knew it was something I had to see for myself.

Lucy’s got a really cool range of academic experience. She started with a computer science degree and combined that with an apparel design degree to get her PhD in functional clothing and apparel. Now, in her work at the U of M, she combines those two fields in three very diverse ways. The first is her effort to bring the spectacle of fashion to the next level.

Her second field of study involves making that same technology applicable to our everyday lives in ways that can improve medicine. Check out how she is using wearable sensors to track the movement of this running dummy.

Lucy also told me that her next research project involves cataloging clothing to try and help people fully utilize their wardrobe’s potential and cut down on the waste of the fast fashion world. I know I’m excited to see what this research does for the participants.

Between these three projects, Lucy is sure earning her crown as our Lady Geek of the Week.