Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, Duke University, 2025
  • M.S., Engineering Technology, Purdue University, 2020
  • B.S., Electrical & Computer Engineering, Purdue University, 2017
Professional Honors
  • VitreoRetinal Surgery Foundation Research Award, 2025
  • Research to Prevent Blindness Grant, 2023
  • CRA-WP Grad Cohort for Women, 2022
  • NSF Innovation Corp Program, 2020
Professional Affiliations
  • Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) (2022-Present)
  • Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2021-Present)

Dr. Sarah Eom's expertise is in the design, evaluation, and translational assessment of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) systems for medical and surgical applications. She has developed AR/VR technologies that support surgical guidance, medical training, and patient-facing interventions across neurosurgery, ophthalmology, mental health, and physical rehabilitation. Her work spans spatial computing, multimodal sensing, medical visualization, and human — computer interaction, with a focus on quantifying how immersive technologies influence user performance, situational awareness, and clinical workflow. Dr. Eom has extensive experience designing user studies and experimental protocols, both in simulation and clinical-adjacent environments to evaluate usability, accuracy, ergonomic burden, and workflow integration of emerging healthcare technologies.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Eom completed her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Duke University. Her doctoral research focused on developing AR/VR systems that provide real-time guidance and contextual information to surgeons, medical trainees, and patients. She collaborated with clinicians across multiple specialties to investigate how virtual overlays, 3D anatomical visualizations, and novel interaction techniques can enhance task performance and decision-making in both training and procedural environments. Her work also incorporated evaluation of sensor-fusion systems (camera, IMU, depth sensing), eye tracking, motion capture, and biometric sensors, to assess user behavior, system robustness, and the reliability of immersive guidance.

Dr. Eom was also an ORISE Fellow in the Medical Extended Reality Program at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she contributed to regulatory research and guidance development for AR/VR-based medical devices, including head-mounted displays intended for clinical use. In this role, she evaluated device safety, human factors considerations, and technical performance criteria to inform future regulatory pathways for immersive medical technologies.