Graduate Student Research

PhD students earn top National Science Foundation fellowships

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 22:51:12 +0000

PhD students earn top National Science Foundation fellowships Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/24/2024 - 16:51

Jeff Zehnder

The National Science Foundation has bestowed three prestigious Graduate Research Fellowship Program awards to University of Colorado Boulder mechanical engineering graduate students.

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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Grad student helps design ‘artificial muscles’ you can toss in the compost bin

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Apr 2023 20:00:32 +0000

Grad student helps design ‘artificial muscles’ you can toss in the compost bin Anonymous (not verified) Sun, 04/23/2023 - 14:00

Say “hello” to the robots of the future: They’re soft and flexible enough to bounce off walls or squeeze into tight spaces. And when you’re done with them, you can toss these machines into a compost bin to decompose.

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Student wins national competition with photoelasticity research

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Mar 2023 16:35:41 +0000

Student wins national competition with photoelasticity research Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/29/2023 - 10:35

Michael Lock Swingen

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 Gallery of Soft Matter Physics 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 American Physical Society (APS) 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 Physical Review E and in Physics.

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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PhD student advancing human tendon research

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jan 2023 19:25:19 +0000

PhD student advancing human tendon research Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 01/26/2023 - 12:25

Michael Lock Swingen

Hannah Larson, a PhD student in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, is a 2023 recipient of the National Institutes of Health 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 Musculoskeletal Extracellular Matrix Laboratory 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.”

Hannah Larson, a PhD student, is a 2023 recipient of the National Institutes of Health T32 for Interdisciplinary Training in Musculoskeletal Research. The program provides research and training opportunities for the next generation of musculoskeletal investigators.

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Student wins national competition with micro-bubble research

Anonymous — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 00:09:09 +0000

Student wins national competition with micro-bubble research Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/16/2023 - 17:09

Michael Lock Swingen

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

The competition was held during the 2022 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition.

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, Robert MacCurdy. “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.

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

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Not-so-private eyes: Eye movements hold clues to how we make decisions

Anonymous — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 23:23:26 +0000

Not-so-private eyes: Eye movements hold clues to how we make decisions Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 12/19/2022 - 16:23

New research suggests that eyes may really be the window to the soul—or, at least, how humans dart their eyes may reveal valuable information about how they make decisions.

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Q&A: Inspiring the Next Generation of Researchers in Neuromechanics

Anonymous — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 22:52:46 +0000

Q&A: Inspiring the Next Generation of Researchers in Neuromechanics Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 12/08/2022 - 15:52

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.

Ryan Schmad

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 Marbaker

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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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Engineering study finds at least nine pesticide chemicals near Boulder County homes

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 22:41:01 +0000

��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Engineering study finds at least nine pesticide chemicals near Boulder County homes Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 04/28/2022 - 16:41

Rachel Leuthauser

EPA guidance and resources about pesticides

Find 'Minimum Risk Pesticides'

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 Aniya Khalili and funded by a University of Colorado 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.

Mechanical Engineering PhD candidate Aniya Khalili documents the results of her study.

Khalili handles one of the dog collar clips that tracks the chemicals in the air.

“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 EPA has said 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 City of Boulder and Healthy Baby Bright Futures 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.”

The air quality study, led by mechanical engineering PhD candidate Aniya Khalili, aims to inspire the community to lead cleaner lifestyles and promote further research on pesticide exposure.

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NSF honors mechanical engineering students with Graduate Research Fellowships

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 20:51:21 +0000

NSF honors mechanical engineering students with Graduate Research Fellowships Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 04/20/2022 - 14:51

Rachel Leuthauser

The National Science Foundation has awarded two Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering students with Graduate Research Fellowships and two students with honorable mentions.

The five-year fellowship recognizes outstanding graduate students from across the country in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The award includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution.

The Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) is the oldest graduate fellowship program of its kind. It has a long history of selecting honorees who achieve high levels of success with innovative and impactful research in their future academic and professional careers.

The National Science Foundation has awarded two Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering students with Graduate Research Fellowships and two students with honorable mentions.

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PhD student Jaylene Martinez wins Best Poster Award at American Chemical Society Meeting

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Mar 2022 16:42:15 +0000

PhD student Jaylene Martinez wins Best Poster Award at American Chemical Society Meeting Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/30/2022 - 10:42

Rachel Leuthauser

Jaylene Martinez, PhD student in the Ding Research Group

Department of Mechanical Engineering PhD student Jaylene Martinez has won the Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering (PMSE) Best Poster Award.

The award recognizes an outstanding poster presented by a student at the American Chemical Society National Meeting. Only six PMSE Best Poster Awards are given out each year. Winners receive a $200 prize.

“I feel very humbled and excited,” Martinez said. “Sometimes being so focused on research distracts you from recognizing your hard work and the wins that come with it.”

Martinez’s poster detailed her membrane technology research, which can ensure more reliable water treatment filtration systems in the future. The poster was titled “Bonding of membranes by viscous polymers: Infiltration kinetics and its impact on mechanical integrity of the bonded polymer/membrane structure.”

Her work was chosen for the Best Poster Award based on her presentation of it during the PSME poster session. Finalists are identified and evaluated by a group of judges selected by the PMSE Executive Committee.

“I am happy and proud to hear that she won the award,” said Mechanical Engineering Professor and Martinez’s advisor Yifu Ding. “It is not too common for mechanical engineering graduate students to win such an award in the chemistry community.”

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

Describe your research and how it pertains to membrane technologies.

Tremendous progress has been made in developing novel chemistries and functional surfaces to achieve better permselective performances for membrane technologies. However, to integrate these high-value-added membranes into actual filtration devices or modules, controlled bonding between the membranes with the supporting structures – typically thermoplastic polymers – must be achieved. Failure to do so can result in manufacturing yield loss or product failure during application usage. As such, the limitation in membrane-to-component bonding has been identified as one of the top challenges for applying membrane technologies, especially in high-pressure applications. Among the different bonding methods, thermal welding uses infiltration of a viscous polymer into the membrane pores, driven by either capillary force or external pressure. My research focuses on filling kinetics of a viscous polymer melt through asymmetric porous membranes with varying degrees of hydrophilicity and pore size, provided by life science industry provider MilliporeSigma, over a range of different thermomechanical conditions including temperature and pressure. I also systematically investigate the resulting bonding strength between the polymer and membrane.

How will your work impact society?

My research is important for water treatment and virus filtration. Specifically, the implementation of filters into their operating systems to withstand operating conditions without failure or breakage. This would make current filtration systems scientifically reliable.

What is the next step for this project?

Next step is looking at external pressure driven flow to bond thepolypropylene and polyethersulfone membranes and complete chapter three of my thesis. I plan to defend my thesis in July of this summer.

The Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering recognized Martinez's research on membrane technologies that can ensure more scientifically reliable water treatment filtration systems.

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Graduate Student Research

PhD students earn top National Science Foundation fellowships

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Grad student helps design ‘artificial muscles’ you can toss in the compost bin

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Student wins national competition with photoelasticity research

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PhD student advancing human tendon research

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Student wins national competition with micro-bubble research

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Not-so-private eyes: Eye movements hold clues to how we make decisions

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Q&A: Inspiring the Next Generation of Researchers in Neuromechanics

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���Ҵ�ý�ƽ������ Engineering study finds at least nine pesticide chemicals near Boulder County homes

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NSF honors mechanical engineering students with Graduate Research Fellowships

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PhD student Jaylene Martinez wins Best Poster Award at American Chemical Society Meeting

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��Ҵ�ý�ƽ�� Engineering study finds at least nine pesticide chemicals near Boulder County homes