The last title Dustyn Roberts expected to have in her list of credentials was “author.” The daughter of an engineer, she decided early on to follow in her father’s footsteps—long before she actually understood what engineers do. One thing she did know: she would rather write a lab report than a creative essay.

With a bachelor’s in mechanical and biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a master’s in biomechanics and movement science from the University of Delaware, Roberts landed a job with Honeybee Robotics in New York City that allowed her to work on various projects, such as a portable manipulation system for NASA. After over four years with the company, Honeybee began downsizing. Roberts struck out on her own, establishing a consultancy and continuing to teach a graduate course, “Mechanisms and Things that Move,” that she developed in 2007 for New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program at the Tisch School of the Arts. Her sojourn into literature was really based on her personal experience as a student.

“My formal education did not provide real-life, hands-on experience,” says Roberts, “so I wasn’t really prepared for the rigors of employment. I wrote the book I wish I had when I started my first job. Making Things Move provides practical application for the reader with easy-to-follow text, photos, diagrams and an equipment list. It is especially helpful for non-engineers because it has enough theory for the reader to understand how to select parts. It is practical and fun, as evidenced by some of the experiments that include designing a cardboard pantograph and creating a mouse-trap powered car.”

Roberts’ dedication to hands-on learning has been the impetus for her pursuit of a
doctorate in mechanical engineering at NYU-Poly and the basis for her approach to
teaching engineering. “If I can break engineering down differently than my professors
broke it down for me,” said Roberts, “maybe I can help someone.”