Peden Jones
Published: Sep 23, 2025 2:50 PM
By Rachel Wingard
Peden Jones has lent a hand in the classroom and to the College of Liberal Arts. The master’s student in mechanical engineering serves as a teacher’s assistant, conducting research under the guidance of two professors and contributing to the historical Kassel Hand Project.
Why Auburn?
“I really enjoy the community on campus, and I have great relationships with several professors. When it came to choosing where to get my master’s, I knew that I would already be ingrained into everything. I’m doing research under two different professors while also taking classes, and I’m a teaching assistant for the mechanical engineering Senior Design Program.”
Why Engineering?
“Mechanical engineering just clicked with me. I’ve always had a natural intuition for it. My focus is on materials and machine design, but I’ve also spent a lot of time working with electronics. I’ve been part of the Wiggins 3D-print lab for years, and I really enjoy it.”
Kassel Hand Project
“The focus of the project is to build a reproduction of a 16th-century artifact from the Kassel region of Germany. It is a mechanical prosthetic hand that has individually posable fingers. The goal is to remake it such that it can be hosted online as 3D-printable files. We wanted to ensure that other people could access it and build it from anywhere. We also tested it to see what it could do practically. Associate History Professor Heidi Hausse reached out to Chad Rose, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Wearable and Bio Robotics lab, and that’s how the collaboration got started. There was an article about our project in the Smithsonian magazine, which mentioned the names of all the engineers involved, and that was really cool to see recognition for our work.”
Future Plans
“I hope to continue with the project and am looking forward to seeing how it grows. I’m also planning to pursue a doctorate in mechanical engineering at Auburn once I finish my master’s.”
To learn more about Jones, check out his interview on the award-winning #GINNing Podcast.
Media Contact: , dzd0065@auburn.edu, 334-844-2326
Peden Jones, a mechanical engineering master’s student at Auburn, holds 3D-printed replicas of a 16th-century prosthetic hand he helped recreate for the Kassel Hand Project.