Nick Rovito, a first-year PhD student in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, was living on top of the world.

After submitting a technical publication to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Fluids Engineering Division, he was named one of five finalists for the Young Engineer Paper Competition and was invited to present his research at the International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE) conference in Portland, Oregon.

Nick Rovito, first-year PhD student and winner of the American Society of Mechanical Engineer's Young Engineer Paper Competition.

Rovito’s award-winning research article is titled “.” The piece featured a multi-physics model coupling fluid dynamics, drug transport and reactions that emulates the clot-dissolving process in stroke treatment.

Simply being recognized amongst the other finalists at such a prestigious gathering was already the honor of a lifetime, he said. With over 1,600 research leaders across nearly 20 technical tracks, the IMECE conference features one of the largest and most diverse conference communities that ASME has to offer. It’s often touted as the largest mechanical engineering conference in the country.

But when presentations had concluded and the judges were done deliberating, Rovito wasn’t just a finalist. He was the winner.

As a graduate research assistant in the , led by Assistant Professor Debanjan Mukherjee at the University of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder, Rovito conducts computational fluid dynamics research analyzing the mechanisms of thrombolysis in the blood vessels of the brain. This primary mode of stroke therapy involves administering medication to help restore blood flow by dissolving blood clots that may be causing a stroke.

“The FLOWLab is very multidisciplinary,” Rovito said. “We study stroke and medicine by analyzing fluid motion and transport through the cardiovascular system. Recognizing this allows us to apply principles of mechanical engineering to an otherwise medically focused field.”

His work aims to answer two questions: why do stroke treatments fail, and how can we increase their efficacy in the future?

“When you have a stroke, there’s an artery in your brain that is being blocked by a blood clot. Tissue plasminogen activator is the only drug approved by the FDA to treat this, but nearly 50 percent of patients don’t actually see the clot fully dissolve,” Rovito said. “A stroke left untreated could spell permanent disability or death, so we want to study the fluid mechanics within the vascular structure and see exactly how that drug is being delivered to the blood clot.”

Thrombolysis is known to present other dangerous issues, as well. Tissue plasminogen activator is categorized as an anticoagulant or a blood thinner. The drug’s job is to interfere with the clotting process and prevent blood clots from forming or growing.

However, the drug is not capable of targeting specific blood clots. It will dissolve any blood clot, including those that are not causing the stroke. Rovito says this can lead to severe bleeding if the drug goes elsewhere in the brain, or if it is overused.

Assistant Professor Debanjan Mukherjee (left) and Nick Rovito (right). Rovito is a graduate research assistant in the FLOWLab, led by Mukherjee.

“Around twenty percent of the patients who receive this drug experience major bleeding whether the stroke treatment is successful or not,” he said. “Understanding drug delivery from a flow physics standpoint helps us understand what the drug is doing when it’s administered so we can potentially mitigate those issues in the future.”

“I felt confident about my work,” Rovito said. “But I was just happy to be there. Everybody’s work was phenomenal. Any of the finalists could have won. So when the results came out, I was thrilled.”

Mukherjee, a co-author of the publication, had no doubt that Rovito’s work had what it took to win.

“Drug delivery investigation is at the core of our research group, and a lot of the strides we’ve made in modeling and simulation tools have been because of Nick’s efforts,” said Mukherjee, also a faculty member in biomedical engineering (BME) at ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder. “This is a very complicated problem, and his research is novel. The fact that he was able to win this award three semesters into his PhD pursuit speaks to his great ability to accomplish these technical tasks.”

Rovito hopes to continue improving this model and solving problems related to the clinical challenges of today. Their next steps in this project related to stroke therapy will be in collaboration with the neurology team at the , a frequent collaborator with the FLOWLab.

Beyond his research, Rovito also hopes to translate his technical skills into a long-term teaching career.

“One of my passions is teaching and scientific communication,” he said. “ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder is a great place for me to continue my technical work and develop as an educator.”

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Olivia Felton is a PhD student in the Welker Lab, led by Assistant Professor Cara Welker, at the University of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder. Their main focus: to use assistive technology to help both able-bodied individuals and those with disabilities.

Felton earned her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Baylor University. During her time as an undergraduate, she worked in a fluids lab. While she found the research interesting, she knew it was not what she wanted to study long term.

Currently, her work focuses on recreational runners. In her experiments, participants run on a force instrumented treadmill, which tracks their ground reaction forces. They also wear a metabolic mask to measure energy expenditure during running. The running is slightly different than what they are used to, however, since they have an exotendon attached to their feet.

The exotendon is surgical tubing with loops on both ends held in place with zip ties and s-biners to clip onto the shoes of the person being tested. It creates a force between the individual's feet as the tubing stretches and molds as they run. Dr. Welker’s research has shown that the exotendon allows a runner to expend about six percent less metabolic energy when running at a 10 minute mile pace.

Moving forward, Felton is expanding the study by understanding the effect of running with the exotendon at a range of speeds and how reducing metabolic energy expenditure affects self-selected running speed.

Throughout her research, Felton has found she enjoys working with the many different people who come through her lab.

“One really cool thing about this study is that we're recruiting recreational runners, so I do a lot of run clubs around Boulder to recruit participants. I've met a lot of really great people,” Felton shared.

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The national awards recognize and support outstanding grad students from across the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees.

PhD students Reegan Ketzenberger, Caleb Song, and Jennifer Wu are each receiving the honor for 2024. Find out more about their research below.

Awardees receive a $37,000 annual stipend and cost of education allowance for the next three years as well as professional development opportunities.

Two mechanical engineering PhD students, Alex Hedrick and Carly Rowe, also received honorable mentions from the National Science Foundation program.

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Ben McMillan, a PhD student advised by Associate Professor Nathalie Vriend in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, recently took first place in the video competition for his research on the internal dynamics of granular flow and its effects on clogging.

The Gallery of Soft Matter Physics is a poster and video competition that showcases the elegance and aesthetics of soft matter, while highlighting the work of the soft matter community to fellow researchers and the general public. The competition was held during the 2023 March Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“It is a great accomplishment for Ben to win the award,” Vriend said. “He produced an outstanding video and is one of only two PhD students who won.”

In his laboratory experiments, McMillan uses a technique called photoelasticity that analyzes how patterns of light within polyurethane disks change according to the magnitude and direction of forces exerted upon them. The fluctuating patterns of light can give McMillan a picture of the stress distribution between them.

The winners of the Gallery of Soft Matter Physics receive a cash prize, an opportunity to give an invited talk at the next APS March Meeting in 2024 and are featured in American Physical Society’s journals  and in .

In his video, “To Clog or Not to Clog,” McMillan outlines how photoelasticity can predict whether a clog of granular materials attempting to pass through an opening is structurally stable or unstable.

Watch the video here:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzIv3IkK3_E]

McMillan shared more details about his award-winning video and research:

Can you describe your research?

My research focuses on experimentally investigating granular materials, which are materials made up of grains or particles. We use a technique called photoelasticity, which allows us to visualize and resolve the force on each particle in our experiments.

How will your work impact society?

Clogs occur in a huge array of scenarios, many of which impact us directly. For example, salt shakers, inkjet printers and silos of grains experience clogs, but they can also be dangerous, such as blood clots or crowds of people. Despite their prevalence, our understanding of clogs is poor. We aim to improve our knowledge of clogging fundamentals, which would help design systems to be safer and more efficient.

What is the next step for this project?

Our goal is to be able to predict when a clog will form. To do this, we’re planning to use machine learning ideas to try and find patterns in the force distributions and velocity profiles that occur before a clog happens.

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Hannah Larson, a PhD student in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, is a 2023 recipient of the T32 for Interdisciplinary Training in Musculoskeletal Research.

The program provides research and training opportunities for the next generation of musculoskeletal investigators who intend to pursue careers in biomedical and clinical research.

The musculoskeletal system is the study of muscles, tendons, bones, and cartilage and how they interact in the human body.

At first glance, it may seem strange that a student in mechanical engineering is conducting research on the human body.

But a key aspect of mechanical engineering is the study of materials and their behavior. Materials like steel, concrete and aluminum undergo tests that analyze characteristics including strength and the rate at which they experience wear and tear, which is called “material fatigue.” Engineers like Larson bridge those investigation techniques to the human body.

“I’m applying those exact same principles of mechanics to the study of tendons,” said Larson, who works in the  with Professor Sarah Calve. “You do similar tests. It’s just totally different material behavior.”

Larson’s journey to biomechanics was a circuitous one.

As an undergraduate in mechanical engineering, she took a senior elective class called Biologically Inspired Design, which studied how nature finds solutions to engineering and design problems. She did a project on how the material structure of the Namibian beetle shell can passively collect water in the desert.

It was intriguing work, but Larson stuck to a more traditional engineering path after graduation, landing a job as a research assistant in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory. There she helped develop solid-state, fiber, and diode laser technologies for the scientific and defense communities. Although the job was a good experience, Larson noticed that she didn’t think about her work during off-hours.

When it came time to apply to graduate school, she recalled her senior elective and how fascinating she found biological systems like the human body.

“I like the big picture of trying to help people with their health,” Larson said. “For me, being active is essential. If I tore my Achilles heel and could never run again, that would be devasting.”

A motivator to Larson’s research is the fact that tendons don’t heal well on their own.

She is investigating a subclass of macromolecules called proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans, whose mechanical functions in tendons are little understood. Her lab work involves dissecting tendon samples and stretching them with a force sensor. She then incubates the tendon in a fluorescent solution that sticks to parts that have been damaged, allowing the amount of damage to be studied in detail.

Larson wants to know if having more, or less, of the proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans in tissues will help mitigate the material fatigue of tendons.

She hopes that her research can help the medical community better understand how people develop tendinopathy, which is a tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function and is not easily treatable.

NIH has hopes for Larson’s research, too. The T32 grant will provide additional funding to Larson’s graduate research, including money to buy new lab equipment and travel to academic conferences.

After she finishes her PhD program, Larson wants to continue using her engineering skills in a biomedical career.

“Whether it’s developing biomedical devices, tissue constructs or synthetic tendons,” Larson said, “I know this kind of work is for me.”

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Brandon Hayes, a PhD student in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, recently took first place in a national competition for.

The competition was held during the.

The IMECE NSF Student Poster Competition provides an opportunity for students to share their NSF-funded research and interact with fellow researchers from single-focus, multidisciplinary and international backgrounds.

“There were thousands of participants,” said Hayes. “It gave me a chance to make connections with other graduate students and professors who do similar research, which I hope will help advance my research into new avenues.”

The title of Hayes’ poster was “Thermal Bubble-Driven Micro-Pumps: The Building Blocks to Bring Microfluidics to the Masses,” which details how bubble-driven inertial pumps can be used to move liquids through microchannels.

“It was a surprise to learn that I took first place,” Hayes said. “You spend a lot of time collecting and analyzing data to put together research like that, and it’s nice to see that work recognized.”

His poster won based on a one-minute video presentation that was submitted and additional on-site judging during the event. Finalists were identified and evaluated by a group of judges, made up of professors and industry representatives, who were selected by the three event organizers.  

"Brandon is an exceptional student and this recognition is well-deserved,” said Hayes’s faculty adviser, . “By enabling tiny on-chip pumps that move and mix fluids without any moving parts, his work is paving the way toward increased automation and lower costs for microfluidic systems."

Following the impressive accomplishment, Hayes shared more details about his award-winning poster and research.

Can you describe your research?

My research is in a field called microfluidics. In other words, how fluids move in extremely small spaces. But how do you move fluid in a channel the size of a human hair? My answer: bubbles. In my research, I use micro-bubbles as a pump source to move fluid in microfluidic channels. Specifically, I develop new ways to rapidly fabricate these micro-pumps and seek to better understand how they work and how they can be applied to healthcare applications. Imagine going in for a blood test and only needing a finger prick. Or shrinking down entire medical laboratories down into a handheld device.

How will your work impact society?

Microfluidics has the potential to revolutionize healthcare by creating a so-called "democratized" healthcare system. For example, when you go in for a blood test, blood is drawn and then sent to a centralized lab that processes your blood sample. This works if the infrastructure and a centralized lab is readily available. But what if you live in a rural area or simply where you live doesn't have access to a centralized lab? In these cases, being able to decentralize the process would be invaluable. Instead of a blood sample being sent to a centralized lab, the goal of microfluidics is to create a handheld device where blood can be analyzed immediately in a so-called "sample-to-answer" manner.

What is the next step for this project?

This project and my past projects have been about understanding and developing a new rapid fabrication process to create these micro-pumps based on bubbles. Now that I can quickly build these devices, the next step for this project is to introduce biologically relevant fluids like blood and cells to understand how these fluids interact with the micro-pump. This is currently an unanswered question which will need to be solved before this type of micro-pump can be used in healthcare.

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Ryan Schmad (BSME '23) is the recipient of the 2022 Best Undergradute Podium Award from the Rocky Mountain American Society of Biomechanics. His research mentor is Rachel Marbaker, a current PhD student in Alaa Ahmed's Neuromechanics Laboratory.

Ryan, tell us about your research. What was the study you worked on? 

Ryan: I helped complete an isometric grip force experiment studying how individuals’ gripping behavior changes in the presence of reward. I used a robotic arm manipulandum where subjects would grip a force transducer that would move a cursor on a screen to targets. These targets would randomly appear in one of four locations. Rewarded targets were accompanied by visual feedback (a yellow flash of light and a message of +4 points) and audio feedback (a higher pitched ping), while non-rewarded targets did not have accompanying visual or audio feedback. After analysis we found that subjects had a faster reaction, greater peak force, and greater peak force rate when gripping for rewarded targets. This shows that individuals reach faster and with a greater vigor towards rewarded targets.

How did you first get involved in research and what drew you to neuromechanics?

Ryan: I had the opportunity to work with the lab initially through the ME Summer Research Program. I had always been interested in research and when I received the email for this opportunity I thought it would be a great chance to see how engineering and research go together. What drew me to the Neuromechanics Lab was the unique questions that they were trying to answer with respect to human behavior and neural control, along with how they found answers through reverse engineering. I was also interested in the realm of biomedical engineering. Another big thing that drew me to the lab was how nice Rachel was when I met with her for a brief interview. I felt that I would be in a supportive environment and would have the opportunity to learn a ton from her and others in the lab. I had a blast after that first summer. 

I wanted to continue with the research project and received funding from the STEM Routes Uplift Program to continue working in the lab.

What kinds of challenges did you encounter in your research? Is there anything you learned that surprised you?

Ryan: One challenge that I found was the technical reading. I hadn’t read many research papers before this opportunity and they were quite difficult to understand and get through at first. With support and practice, I was able to learn how to extract the relevant information from an article. Another challenge that I ran into for my research was the analysis of large data sets that had a lot of noise or just unexpected behavior. With hundreds of thousands of data points, it took a lot of time to learn how to properly sort through them to get the information that I wanted but also to parse through individual trials that had either errors or such strange behavior that it messed up our code for analysis. Since I had never done research before, especially with humans, I never realized just how noisy behavior and data could be, so it was super interesting to see that. 

What advice would you share with a student interested in getting involved in research?

Ryan: My best advice would be to just go for it! I wasn’t sure what research would involve in an engineering setting so the best way to see if you like it is to try it out. Research has shaped what I would like to do with my future and I think it can have that kind of impact on anybody. In a more technical sense, I would also encourage someone interested in research to go to Google Scholar and find some articles to read to get an idea of what the content looks like in this area of work.

Rachel, what was your path to a PhD studying neuromechanics?

Rachel: I came to Neuromechanics in a bit of a roundabout way. I went into college aiming for a degree in behavioral economics, agreeing to test the waters of engineering to soothe my parents’ worry. I loved engineering and my undergraduate degrees were in mechanical engineering and mathematics. My undergraduate thesis focused on creative innovation in actuators, focusing on shape-changing textiles. In my junior year, I applied for an undergraduate research experience at the University of Delaware where I worked on the development of a treadmill-based rehabilitation program for recovering stroke patients. As a lifelong athlete, I was immediately captivated by the intricacies of human movement and its interaction with the brain. Learning plays such a subtle and crucial role in how we navigate movement in everyday life! 

I applied to a variety of graduate programs under a broad range of departmental titles -- psychology, physiology, neuroscience, biomedical engineering, mechanical engineering, exercise science, physical therapy -- in every case looking to work toward understanding movement for applications in rehabilitation and performance. I joined Alaa’s lab because in an early conversation, we encountered a shared interest in behavioral economics. Neuromechanics allows me to study movement in the context of understanding how the brain controls behavior and use that information to develop rehabilitation interventions. In developing models of the brain, we apply behavioral economics to understand how the brain manages energy, accuracy, and choice in movements. It’s all synergy and the clear pathway to application is exciting!

As a PhD student, what role has mentoring played in your work?  

Rachel: Mentoring is so much fun! Bringing in new students and getting to share my excitement with them helps me develop my communication skills, both in collaboration and in communicating my ideas to an audience with a different background. Each student’s unique contributions add nuance and perspective to the project, from working across cultures to collaborating with a mentee who used their game development background to build an experimental set-up in a virtual reality environment. Having mentees keeps me consistently involved in a project because I am consistently engaging with the student’s progress and collaboratively problem solving with them. Finally, I love being able to support research experiences for students that might inspire them to pursue a graduate degree.

What advice would you share with a graduate student interested in mentoring?

Rachel: Absolutely bring on a mentee. Not only do they help with the data collection and experimental development, but they help you improve your teaching and communication skills. I want to promote collaboration, and I have a rule that my mentees should never be stuck on a problem for more than two hours. At that point I want them to reach out so we can problem solve together and keep the project moving forward. I schedule weekly meetings where we assess progress, plan next steps, and talk through issues and project motivations. My lab also encourages mentees to attend weekly lab meetings to ensure that they are part of the lab community and have the opportunity to ask questions, learn from lab members other than me, and engage in discussions about the larger research field.

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Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering researchers have identified at least nine pesticide chemicals in the air around Boulder County homes that humans and their dogs have been exposed to.

The air quality study, led by PhD candidate and funded by a University of ŷ���ڱ���Ƶ Boulder Outreach Award, tracked the chemicals that people and their dogs came into contact with in fall 2021. The 38 human-dog pairs that participated in the study had to wear wristbands and dog collar clips for a week that contained sampling tubes to measure the pesticides around them. 

“We used high-resolution mass spectrometry to analyze the samples," said Khalili. "The results showed that of the 15 compounds we were testing for, we detected nine of them. Three of them were detected in all the human and dog samples.”

The three compounds identified in all 76 samples were n-nitrosodiphenylamine, 4-nitroaniline and 4-chloroaniline. Each of those compounds can be found in pesticides and could pose various health risks including eye, skin and respiratory tract irritation. Very high and repeated exposures may damage the liver and kidneys, according to the EPA.

“These results could mean that the chemicals are in the air since the 38 people are not living together and have different lifestyles,” said Khalili. “If they are exposed to the same compound, it could say something about the community that we are living in.”

The study also detected DDD in one human and two dogs, and DDT in two humans and one dog, even though the United States has banned the use of both due to damage to wildlife. The that "after the use of DDT was discontinued in the United States, its concentration in the environment and animals has decreased, but because of its persistence, residues of concern from historical use still remain." 

“The fact that we even have detected DDD and DDT in any of the participants’ samples is a big deal,” said Khalili. “There is a 99% correlation between the dogs and their owners that were exposed to DDD and DDT, and yes, it is a small percentage out of the 38 pairings in the whole study. But we shouldn’t be exposed to those compounds at all.”

Khalili’s study focused on detecting the compounds rather than identifying where they are coming from. She noted the chemicals could have originated from pesticides, dog tick and flea medications, or industrial sources.

Khalili conducted this research after seeing several yellow flags on people’s yards around Boulder indicating that chemicals had recently been applied. She wanted to educate the community about the compounds that are in some of those pesticides and inspire people to live cleaner lifestyles.

Many of the participants have told Khalili that they are already being more conscious about using pesticides around their homes to protect themselves and their dogs. Khalili said she’s proud and excited to see community members taking this next step. Moving forward, she wants to promote even bigger changes.

“I would love to see the regulations around the compounds in these products that we use for gardening be revised,” said Khalili. “It wouldn’t happen overnight. We would need more studies to ensure that policymakers can rely on the results and make a change. I’d like to not see those yellow flags around anymore.”

Khalili partnered with the and to recruit participants and design the deployment of the study, since the city and organization are well connected with the community. Both collaborators also had a stake in the research, as they were interested in seeing what compounds are in their air.

“It was important to work with the City of Boulder because they could be empowered to make changes to regulations,” said Khalili. “With Healthy Baby Bright Futures, it was an educational opportunity. Our study can help teach mothers to not let their babies crawl on chemically treated grass, for example.”

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