Susan Ashdown joined the Cornell faculty in 1991 on completion of her Ph.D research in perception of apparel fit at the University of Minnesota. Previous to this she completed her MA degree at Cornell, where her research was in the area of functional apparel design. Her research continues to address topics in apparel sizing and fit and in the design of functional apparel. Overall the questions that inform her research and teaching focus on the interactions between apparel design and technology, and the changes that are occurring in the way that apparel is designed, produced, and distributed using new and developing technologies.

More specifically, her research and teaching are in the field of technical apparel design, with a concentration on sizing and fit of both fashion and functional apparel, and the use of full body three-dimensional scanning in the apparel industry. Issues in patternmaking, grading, automated custom fit, judging apparel fit in research and industry settings, virtual fit, use of 3D scans for virtual fit avatars, anthropometric measures, anthropometry of the active body, mass customization, interactions of materials and design, and functional apparel design are addressed in her research program.