Show-Me State Times

Jenna Gorlewicz, Ph.D., who holds the Eugene Kranz Professorship for Excellence in Research at Saint Louis University’s School of Science and Engineering, has been named to the St. Louis Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 list. The annual recognition highlights 40 business leaders under age 40 who are active in the St. Louis community. The announcement appears in the November 7, 2025 issue of the Business Journal, and honorees were celebrated at an event on November 6 at FanDuel Sports Network Live.

Gorlewicz serves as a faculty member in aerospace and mechanical engineering at SLU. She is also the associate dean of research and innovation and chairs the department of aerospace and mechanical engineering.

“I've been blessed with an outstanding team, colleagues, collaborators, family, and support network that create the day-to-day wins which translate into longer-term impacts,” Gorlewicz said. “It's a shared recognition that I'm humbled to receive.”

She directs the Collaborative Haptics, Robotics, and Mechatronics (CHROME) Lab at SLU. “In the CHROME Lab, we ask the bold question: what if we raised touch to the same level as sight and sound in our technologies?” Gorlewicz said. “At its heart, this is a question about connection — between people and technology, between communities and researchers, and between the future we imagine and the one we can build together.”

Her research focuses on developing wearable devices and consumer technologies that convey information through touch. One initiative involves creating haptic sleeves and watches with input from the protactile deafblind community to allow users to experience information tactilely. Other projects aim to improve STEM education.

“We make touchscreens that don’t just display graphics, but let blind and low-vision users feel them,” she said. “We create tangible tools for classrooms that make abstract ideas come alive in learners’ hands.”

The CHROME lab’s work includes collaboration with SLU faculty and students as well as area high school students and other community partners.

“In line with SLU’s mission, we design with, not for communities, and our team spans high school students to professional researchers, blind experts to deafblind collaborators, engineers to anthropologists — all united by the belief that touch can transform how we learn, heal, and connect,” she said.

The lab aims not only to engineer new devices but also to promote inclusive multisensory technology.

Gorlewicz earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 2008 before completing her Ph.D. at Vanderbilt University. She joined Saint Louis University in 2015.