Advanced Textiles Expo 2026

Rebecca Ruckdashel
Research Engineer III - Textiles
FASTR Lab, Advanced Structures and Composites Center, University of Maine


Rebecca R. Ruckdashel is a Research Engineer in Textiles at Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine. She investigates the rheology of materials, melt-spinning of filament yarns, material characterizations, and novel manufacturing techniques related to textiles. She has a B.S. from Cornell University in Engineering Physics, an M.S. from NC State University in Textile Engineering, and a Ph.D. from NC State University in Fiber and Polymer Science. Her master’s thesis was on the dyeability of polypropylene yarn with an additive while her dissertation was on the formation of hollow fibers during melt-spinning by way of a 4-C, segmented arc die geometry. During her post-doc at UMass Lowell in Plastics Engineering, she melt spun and characterized bicomponent filament yarns and used modelling techniques to iteratively improve a die for profile extrusion for filament deposition modelling. As a Lead Fiber Scientist for Kintra Fibers in Brooklyn, NY, she developed sustainable polyester fibers for fashion through polymer melt spinning and handknitting.

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