Nine Engineering Students Attend BMES Annual Meeting

The educational experience in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA) doesn’t stop in the classroom. Students have the opportunity to visit companies, meet with professionals, and get a taste of what it is like working in their dream field. Through various clubs and organizations within the College, many students have an opportunity to also travel to local and national conferences to meet with professionals in their field.

Last fall, a record number of nine CETA students attended the 2019 Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pa. Seven out of the nine students participated in the undergraduate poster session where they had a chance to present their groundbreaking research projects to industry leaders and graduate school representatives. Their projects were completed through summer undergraduate research programs (REU) funded by the National Science Foundation, scholarships and grants, or as extracurricular projects during the fall 2019 semester under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering Takafumi Asaki. He also serves as the director of the student volunteer program for BMES and helped make the trip to the conference possible for the students.

BMES 2019 was an invaluable experience that enabled students to network, expand their knowledge, and share their meaningful research initiatives, all while representing CETA on a national level. Thanks to Dr. Asaki and his students, University of Hartford and CETA now have a strong reputation with the national Biomedical Engineering Society chapter.

Gaby Gamory ’21, BMES

BMES Annual Meeting 2020 will be held in San Diego, Calif., and many students have already been preparing their projects and/or getting involved more through the volunteering program. More students are being encouraged to attend after hearing about such a positive experience from the nine students who attended this past year. This level of engagement has also stimulated more interest in the UHart BMES student chapter here on campus.

Mike Kohler ’20 (right), a biomedical engineering major, and Joel Lawes ’21 (left), an electrical engineering major with a biomedical engineering minor, collaborated to create a vibrotactile testing device that was used to investigate how the body can detect distinctions between various levels of sensation on the skin. Kohler is planning to continue this project, which he was able to work on through a scholarship awarded by the NASA CT Space Grant Consortium, with Jenna Bridges ’20, biomedical engineering major, for their BE 460/461 Senior Design Capstone Project.

Brian Legato ’20 (left), a biomedical engineering major, is continuing the work he completed from the Summer REU at UHart for his senior capstone project in partnership with the Physical Therapy department. Brian and his partner created a universal video game controlling system for children with Cerebral Palsy as a means of motor control training and data collection to track one's progress.

Nicole Carr ’20 (left), a biomedical engineering major, and Josephine Garcia ’20 (right), an electrical engineering and computer science double major, combined their skills to explore the applicability of smartphones as a tool for health and data collection for physicians and consumers. Their work was supported by the Women’s Advancement Initiative’s Dorothy Goodwin Scholars Program at the University of Hartford, which was made possible thanks to a generous bequest from Dorothy Goodwin.

Karen Rayappa ’20, a biomedical engineering major, was involved in the development of a balance testing system during the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) hosted by UHart in the summer of 2019. She worked under Adam Goodworth of the Physical Therapy Department, leveraging her engineering skills to help improve rehabilitation methods.

Gabriela Gamory ’21, a biomedical engineering major, participated in the Biomedical Engineering - Simulations, Imaging and Modeling REU (BME-SIM REU) at East Carolina University, where she performed human subjects testing and wrote a code to open the doors for further study in Achilles tendon rupture and rehabilitation in their biomechanics lab.

Maxx Bouffard ’21, a biomedical engineering major, took advantage of the student volunteering program and helped several events run smoothly while learning about brand new BME technology at the various seminars and social events that took place in the Philadelphia Convention Center.

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Stephanie Fengler

fengler@hartford.edu

860.768.4597

Nine Engineering Students Attend BMES Annual Meeting

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