Despite beginning as a preschool dropout, Elissa found her passion for academics and graduated from LSU in 2013 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering.  She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University in 2016 and 2024, focusing on rehabilitation robotics research and human-centered design.  After working in industrial robotics 2017-2018, she joined MTSU as a lecturer for Mechatronics Engineering.  Elissa is passionate about improving the efficiency and effectiveness of engineering education, and lowering the cost for students through Open Educational Resources (OER).

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Books and Book Chapters

• Ledoux, E.D. (2025). “From Preschool Dropout to College Professor: An Unlikely but Positive Path,” book chapter submitted to Educator Reflections: The Power of Our Stories, MT Open Press, doi:10.56638/mtopb00325.
• Ledoux, E.D., M. M. Uddin, N. Matta, and M. Sheppard (2025). Engineering Capstone: A Guide to Senior Design for Engineering and Technology, MTSU Pressbooks Publication. doi:10.56638/oermtb00124
• Zhang, H., E. D. Ledoux, and V. Bedekar (2025). Robotics and Control Engineering, MTSU Pressbooks Publication. doi:10.56638/oermtb00325.

Journal Articles

• Ledoux, E. D., N. S. Kumar, and E. J. Barth. (2024), “Design, Modeling and Preliminary Evaluation of a Simple Wrist-Hand Stretching Orthosis for Neurologically Impaired Patients,” Wearable Technologies, Cambridge University Press, 5(e19). doi:10.1017/wtc.2024.22.
• Ledoux, E. D. and E. J. Barth. (2024), “Design, Modeling and Preliminary Evaluation of a 3D-Printed Wrist-Hand Grasping Orthosis for Stroke Survivors,” Wearable Technologies, Cambridge University Press, 5(e12). doi:10.1017/wtc.2024.18.
• Ledoux, E. D. (2018). “Inertial Sensing for Gait Event Detection and Transfemoral Prosthesis Control Strategy,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.
• Lawson, B. E., Ledoux, E. D., & Goldfarb, M. (2017). “A robotic lower limb prosthesis for efficient bicycling,” IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 33(2), 432-445.
• Ledoux, E. D., & Goldfarb, M. (2017). “Control and evaluation of a powered transfemoral prosthesis for stair ascent,” IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, 25(7), 917-24.

Conference Papers

• Ledoux, E. D. & B. Slaboch (2025, June). “Faculty-Driven vs. Student-Driven Design Projects for Mechatronics Engineering Capstone.” In 2025 American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Annual Conference.
• Lawson, B. E., Shultz, A., Ledoux, E., & Goldfarb, M. (2014, August). Estimation of crank angle for cycling with a powered prosthesis. In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2014 36th Annual International Conference of the IEEE (pp. 6207-6210).
• Ledoux, E. D., Lawson, B. E., Shultz, A. H., Bartlett, H. L., & Goldfarb, M. (2015, August). Metabolics of stair ascent with a powered transfemoral prosthesis. In Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE (pp. 5307-5310).

Presentations

• “Training Engineers to Write: Teaching Project Documentation in a Senior Capstone Course,” MTSU CompExpo Conference, Murfreesboro, TN, (May 2025)
• “Student Identification of ABET Accreditation Outcomes,” MTSU Assessment Faculty Learning Community, virtual, (April 2025)
• “Open Education Projects in Robotics and Engineering: What, Why, and How,” MTSU Open Education Week OER Champions Showcase, virtual, (invited talk, March 2025)
• “Effects of Intermediate Assignments on Capstone Project Reports by Mechatronics Engineering Students,” MTSU Annual Literacy Research Conference, Murfreesboro, TN (March 2025)
• “OrthoHands: Soft Robotic Hand Orthoses for Stroke Recovery,” Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Conference, Boston, MA (2023).
• “Inertial Sensing for Transfemoral Amputee Gait Detection.” Biomedical Engineering and Instrumentation Summit, virtual, (2021).
• “Metabolics of Stair Ascent with a Powered Transfemoral Prosthesis.” Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference, Milan, Italy, (2015).

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• Central Magnet High School Senior Thesis Mentor for Gavin Mercado and Malek Braiser, Performance Enhancing Insole (2024-2025)
• Undergraduate Honors Thesis Advisor for Jennifer Wade, RC You Later: Development of a Remote-Controlled Hovercraft with First-Person View Capabilities (2023-2024)
  
  
• Mentored First Place Team at the 2024 National Robotics Challenge Manufacturing Workcell Competition, Post-Secondary category.  The team placed first in their category, winning both the Gold Award and the Honda Innovation Award (2024)
  
  
• Mentored 98 teams of capstone students in developing and documenting prototypes for automation and robotic applications (2018-2025).  Several of these projects have been spotlighted by MTSU’s Out of the Blue media group:
  • 2025: “Change Your Oil and Water Your Plants with a Raspberry Pi”
  • 2024: “Exploring the Depths with Student-Built Submersible Vehicles” and “Mechatronic Innovations That Are Transforming Industries”
  • 2023: “MTSU Mech-Tech shows off seniors’ creative talents”
  • 2022: “From 3D printing to ‘Mr. CatDog’, MTSU Mech-Tech Expo 2022 features robotics-driven projects”
  • 2021: “MTSU graduating seniors’ projects seize spotlight at Mech-Tech expo”
  • 2020: “True Blue Makers: Mechatronics seniors demonstrate capstone projects”
  • 2019: “MTSU engineering technology students showcase ingenuity, gadgets at Mech-Tech expo”

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