Ilka’s research interests are in prototyping, front-end design, stakeholder engagement, product design and development, and medical device design. She is a Ph.D. candidate in Design Science and a Rackham Merit Fellow at the University of Michigan. Ilka is also a facilitator at the Center for Socially Engaged Design at UM. She received her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez (2016) and a Master of Science in Design Science from the University of Michigan (2019).