Ibrahim Mohedas

Bio

Dr. Ibrahim Mohedas is an Executive in Residence at Duke University’s Christensen Family Center for Innovation, where he helps researchers and students translate their work into viable commercial startups. With a background spanning academia, entrepreneurship, and government, he specializes in guiding innovators from early-stage ideas to impactful, market-ready solutions.

Before joining Duke, Ibrahim served as a Program Director at the National Science Foundation’s Convergence Accelerator, where he managed over $12 million in research grants and led the development of a national innovation curriculum for hundreds of faculty, entrepreneurs, and nonprofit leaders each year. His NSF work focused on helping multidisciplinary teams apply human-centered design, build partnerships, and develop sustainable business models to tackle national-scale challenges.

An engineer by training, with a PhD from the University of Michigan, Ibrahim’s career bridges technical design, user research, and commercialization. He has led the development of medical devices for global health applications, founded and advised startups, and mentored dozens of student design teams. His global fieldwork spans the U.S., Ghana, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, applying ethnographic research methods to create products that address real-world needs.

Education

• D.Phil. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2016

Positions

• Executive In Residence in the Pratt School of Engineering

Courses Taught

• ISS 796T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ISS 795T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ISS 396T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ISS 395T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• I&E 790: Special Topics
• GLHLTH 796T: Bass Connections Global Health Research Team
• GLHLTH 795T: Bass Connections Global Health Research Team
• GLHLTH 396T: Bass Connections Global Health Research Team
• GLHLTH 395T: Bass Connections Global Health Research Team
• EGR 790: Special Topics in Engineering
• EGR 190: Special Topics in Engineering
• EGR 102L: Design to Deliver
• AIPI 591: Special Readings in AI for Product Innovation

Publications

• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Loweth RP, Sienko KH. Changes to stakeholder engagement approaches throughout a capstone engineering design course. International Journal of Technology and Design Education. 2024 Apr 1;34(2):759u201381.
• Mohedas I, Bell C, Bekele D, Jiang K, Soyars C, Walsh M, et al. Preclinical Evaluation of a Task-Shifting Contraceptive Implant Insertion Device for Use in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Journal of Medical Devices Transactions of the ASME. 2022 Dec 1;16(4).
• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Loweth RP, Huynh L, Cravens GL, Sienko KH. The use of recommended interviewing practices by novice engineering designers to elicit information during requirements development. Design Science. 2022 May 16;8.
• Baru C, Campbell L, Dade A, Fulay P, Loewi A, Maughan D, et al. The NSF Convergence Accelerator program. AI Magazine. 2022 Mar 1;43(1):6u201316.
• Bell C, Mohedas I, Soyars C, Sienko KH. Preliminary clinical assessment of a task-shifting device for subcutaneous contraceptive implants. International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. 2021 Oct;155(1):159u201361.
• Mohedas I, Sienko KH, Daly SR, Cravens GL. Students' perceptions of the value of stakeholder engagement during engineering design. Journal of Engineering Education. 2020 Oct 1;109(4):760u201379.
• Jiang KC, Mohedas I, Biks GA, Adefris M, Tadesse Adafrie T, Bekele D, et al. Assessing the Usability of a Task-Shifting Device for Inserting Subcutaneous Contraceptive Implants for Use in Low-Income Countries. Journal of Medical Devices Transactions of the ASME. 2020 Mar 1;14(1).
• Sienko KH, Young MR, Effah Kaufmann E, Obed S, Danso KA, Opare-Addo HS, et al. Global health design: Clinical immersion, opportunity identification and definition, and design experiencesu2217. In: International Journal of Engineering Education. 2018. p. 780u2013800.
• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Sienko KH, Cravens GL, Huynh L. Evaluating best practices when interviewing stakeholders during design. In: ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Conference Proceedings. 2016.
• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Use of skill acquisition theory to understand novice to expert development in design ethnography. In: International Journal of Engineering Education. 2016. p. 1364u201371.
• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Requirements development: Approaches and behaviors of novice designers. Journal of Mechanical Design. 2015 Jul 1;137(7).
• Mohedas I, Sarvestani AS, Bertch C, Franklin A, Joyce A, McCormick J, et al. Assistive Device for the Insertion of Subcutaneous Contraceptive Implants. Journal of Medical Devices Transactions of the ASME. 2015 Jun 1;9(2).
• Mohedas I, Cravens GL, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Valuing and engaging stakeholders: The effects of engineering students' interactions during capstone design. In: ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Conference Proceedings. 2015.
• Mohedas I, Sabet Sarvestani A, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Applying design ethnography to product evaluation: A case example of a medical device in a low-resource setting. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Design Iced. 2015. p. 401u201310.
• Mohedas I, Kaufmann EE, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Ghanaian undergraduate biomedical engineering students' perceptions of their discipline and career opportunities. Global Journal of Engineering Education. 2015 Jan 1;17(1):34u201341.
• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Student use of design ethnography techniques during front-end phases of design. In: ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Conference Proceedings. 2014.
• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Gathering and synthesizing information during the development of user requirements and engineering specifications. In: ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Conference Proceedings. 2014.
• Mohedas I, Daly SR, Sienko KH. Design ethnography in capstone design: Investigating student use and perceptions. International Journal of Engineering Education. 2014 Jan 1;30(4):888u2013900.
• Mohedas I, Anderson FWJ, Adomako J, Sienko KH. Discrepancies between clinicians and rural healthcare workers regarding referral procedures based on blood pressure measurements. International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. 2013 Dec;123(3):246u20137.
• Mohedas I, Garcia AP, Buehler MJ. Nanomechanics of biologically inspired helical silica nanostructures. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part N Journal of Nanoengineering and Nanosystems. 2010 Sep 1;224(3):93u2013100.