Dr. Rivero’s general area of research is manufacturing, and her particular focus is on designing bulk fabrication approaches of novel material systems or structures. A wide array of materials and structures with extraordinary properties have been designed, fabricated, and characterized in laboratory environments. However, the transition of these materials from a laboratory to an industrial environment poses considerable challenges related to preserving the materials characteristics while achieving fabrication efficiency. Therefore, the aim of Dr. Rivero’s Interdisciplinary Manufacturing Engineering and Design (iMED) Laboratory is to design manufacturing processes that will support the transition of advanced materials fabrication from the laboratory to large-scale manufacturing processing facilities. In doing so, traditional fabrication procedures are explored and their capabilities characterized to assess their viability for reproducing laboratory designed materials systems and structures. In her laboratory, Concepts derived from her research primarily emphasize biomedical applications, such as scaffolds for the replacement of cartilage, and material systems for local drug delivery. Her work has also been applied to the development of material systems for aerospace and automotive components.