BME Senior Design Project Awarded Second Place at World Congress on Biomechanics
Seth Patterson and Jessica Pieczynski represented their team at the World Congress on Biomechanics in Dublin, Ireland.A team of biomedical engineering students recently took second place at the World Congress on Biomechanics in Dublin, Ireland for their work on a mechanical umbrella for power wheelchairs.
The umbrella design was created as part of a senior design project by Jessica Pieczynski, Gerardo Hernandez-Moreno, Tess Vessels, and Seth Patterson.
More than 150 abstracts were submitted to the competition, and the UAB team was one of only six to be chosen for the final competition in Dublin.
Pieczynski and Patterson represented the team at the Congress, along with BME faculty mentor Alan Eberhardt, Ph.D. "This team did an awesome job," said Eberhardt. "Jessica and Seth gave a very professional talk that emphasized both the engineering and business aspects of their device. They made me very proud."
For more information on the project, click here.
EITD Contract with NASA Doubled to $50 Million
A multi-year contract between NASA and the UAB Engineering Innovation and Technology Development (EITD) research group was recently doubled, giving the group a $50-million cap on work to provide and maintain cold-stowage units for the International Space Station (ISS).
EITD, a research group of nearly 40 engineers and technicians led by School of Engineering professor Lee Moradi, Ph.D., has played a key role in NASA ISS research for more than a decade. The group has designed and built a series of freezers capable of maintaining temperatures as low as negative 160 degrees Celsius. Each line of freezers meets specific cold-stowage demands, from storing scientific samples to serving as galley refrigerator/freezers for the ISS crew.
During their use on the ISS, the individual units are monitored by EITD personnel from their Remote Operations Command Center (ROCC) on the UAB campus.
This image shows EITD's Rapid-Freeze device integrated in the NASA Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG). Click the image above to view a larger version, or click here for more information.While no specific reason was provided for the increased contract amount, the announcement comes at a time when EITD is expanding its involvement with NASA projects. In recent months, the group received a five-year contract with the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), and a $3.6-million project to develop two different rapid-freeze technologies for use on the ISS. The first rapid-freeze technology is near completion and is expected to be launched later this year. In 2017, EITD received a contract worth $6.2 million to design and build a new set of negative 80-degree Celsius freezers to support the increased needs for cold stowage on the ISS.
“These contracts are evidence of the quality of personnel we have in our group,” says Moradi. “Our engineers and technicians have an impeccable reputation that has been built over decades, and we have been able to recruit extremely talented young engineers and software developers, including several top UAB students, both graduate and undergraduate.”
Senior Design Project Earns International Recognition
Umbrella Design for a Power Wheelchair Will Be Presented at World Congress of Biomechanics in Ireland
Power wheelchair users may see a solution to rainy days with a new automatic umbrella attachment engineered by a team of UAB biomedical engineering students. The UAB School of Engineering team is one of six internationally selected to present their designs at the eighth annual World Congress of Biomechanics in Dublin, Ireland, in July.
“Currently there are not many options to protect power wheelchair users from the weather,” said Jessica Pieczynski, a senior from Madison, Alabama, studying biomedical and mechanical engineering. “Our project supports clients who currently need someone to hold an umbrella for them when it rains. This device will allow power wheelchair users to be more independent, while still covering a majority of their body.”
The multiribbed canopy attaches to the headrest mount of the wheelchair. Attachment brackets are packaged separately based on various wheelchair models. The canopy is clear, which allows full visibility for the user. When the canopy is fully deployed, it offers protection for the head, chest, knees and, most importantly, the electronic controls. The folded canopy can be stored behind the user’s head when not deployed.
“Power wheelchair users often have limited use of their upper extremities,” said Phil Klebine, a UAB employee in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and a power wheelchair user who provided inspiration for the project. “This can make it very difficult to carry a traditional umbrella. This young, talented engineering team has designed a reasonable solution for power wheelchair users to stay dry on rainy days. That’s a big deal for me because I do a lot of outdoor traveling in my chair.”
Read more from UAB News.
Civil Engineering Major Earns Prestigious Scholarship
Birmingham native and rising sophomore Mariam Massoud has been selected for the prestigious Fulbright US-UK Summer Institute Scholarship.
Each year, the US-UK Fulbright Commission supports up to 60 undergraduate students in the United States to undertake demanding academic and cultural summer programs at leading institutions in the United Kingdom.
Massoud is a civil engineering major in the UAB School of Engineering and a student in the UAB Honors College pursuing a personalized path. She will attend the Fulbright Scotland Summer Institute on Technology, Innovation and Creativity, a three-week academic and cultural program for U.S. students hosted by the Glasgow School of Art and the University of Strathclyde.
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