Boom: Biomechanics On Our Minds

Let's celebrate pride together! Join our conversation with Professor Carolyn Bertozzi and Ph.D. Student Riley Suhar, two amazing scientists that share their stories on being LQBTQ+. Whether you are a teacher, student, LQBTQ+, or an ally, we hope these stories will inspire you to join the movement in making science, and the world, more inclusive. Carolyn Bertozzi - Twitter: @CarolynBertozzi, Email: bertozzi@stanford.edu Riley Suhar - Twitter and Instagram: @RileyWillRain

This Student Voices episode is hosted by Nicholas Miller, a first-year graduate student at Marshall University, and includes an interview on the thesis process with Dr. Robert Lynall, a faculty member in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Georgia. As a first-year master’s student, Nicholas addresses common concerns faced when working on a thesis process. Nicholas and Dr. Lynall discuss recruiting thesis committee members, critical steps in the thesis process, funding, ways to manage time as a graduate student, defending your thesis, and common pitfalls associated with a thesis project. Throughout the interview, Dr. Lynall imparts advice to current or prospective master’s students on how to be successful throughout the thesis process. Nicholas Miller is an M.S. student in the Biomechanics program at Marshall University, and Dr. Robert Lynall is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology of the University of Georgia, as well as the co-director of the UGA Concussion Laboratory and

Our guest on this episode is Sahana Kukke, who is the Program Director of Neural Engineering and works at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institutes of Health. She talks about how her career trajectory in biomechanics and academia led her to her current role at the NIH. She also shares perspectives and advice on making important connections that can help shape your path! ----- Bit of BOOM: Let’s take the dog for a gait… Niamh Gill, Crystal Kean, Matthew G.King Gait & Posture Volume 79, June 2020, Pages 1-2 https://www-sciencedirect-com.stanford.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S0966636220301053

What is this awesome new biomechanics blog? How can I learn more about it? In a new student voices episode, we talk to the students behind the Biomechanist (Jasper Johns, Jonas Ebbecke, Lasse Hansen, and Matthias Thelen) to answer these questions and more about this new initiative! Find this blog at https://www.biomechanist.net/about-us/ Follow the Biomechanist on Twitter at @Biomechanist_

This Student Voices episode includes interviews from graduate students and faculty from the Center for Human Machine Systems at Cleveland State University. As current graduate students we answered some of the most frequently asked questions by incoming graduate students about choosing the right advisor, how to balance coursework and research, and how to transition from an undergraduate student to a professional graduate colleague. We also discuss some of the milestones that come later in a graduate program – candidacy and writing a dissertation. You’ll also hear from faculty advisors on what they look for in a graduate student, what to expect from an advisor, what an advisor will expect from you, and more. This episode is hosted by PhD student Brittany Sommers and includes interviews with Phd students Derek Wolf, William Zaylor, Jack Schultz, Cameron LaMack; masters student Dana Lorenz; and faculty advisors Dr. Eric Schearer and Dr. Antonie van den Bogert.

While staying at home we compiled a short bonus episode about the biomechanics community's initiatives during COVID-19 and share our own experiences in quarantine.

Lisa MacFadden, director of the Sanford Sports Science Institute, shares her insights on navigating interdisciplinary work. This includes having respect for other areas and a willingness to learn from each other and learning to communicate with people from different fields. We also learn the important difference between statistical significance and clinical or sports performance significance.

In this episode, Brian Umberger, professor of Movement Science and director of the Locomotion Research Laboratory at the University of Michigan School of Kinesiology, joins us to talk about using experiments and modeling together, peer review, and being the president of the American Society of Biomechanics. We also celebrate National Biomechanics Day during our Bit of BOOM and share our Zoom fails.

On this episode, we talk with Professor Cara Wall-Scheffler who is a professor of biology at Seattle Pacific University. Her work spans sexual dimorphism (where two sexes of the same species exhibit different characteristics beyond the differences in their sexual organs). She talks about how men and women differ with regard to their metabolic cost and walking speed relation. We also talk about faith in science, leading to a discussion of the importance of understanding a variety of perspectives in science, particularly in teaching. She said it best with, “In order to learn you have to feel that your professor cares about you.”

BOOM is happy to support National Biomechanics Day! During NBD, we introduce biomechanics to young people around the world. NBD introduced Biomechanics to over 29,000 highschool students between 2016 to 2019. Let’s add to that total IN A BIG WAY in 2020! In this episode, we talk to the founder of National Biomechanics Day, Paul Devita, to learn what NBD 2020 has in store for us and how to get involved! Join the movement to make Biomechanics the Breakthrough Science of the 21st Century! Learn more and register here: http://thebiomechanicsinitiative.org/registration/

At the University of Sao Paulo, Postdoctoral Fellow, Ricky Watari, has a fun conversation with Professor Isabel Sacco about the upcoming International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics (i-FAB) Meeting. The meeting this year takes place in São Paulo, Brazil on April 5-8. Learn more about the beginning of iFAB, this year's amazing program, and all the benefits for students attending! Follow i-FAB on Social Media: instagram: @ifab2020 facebook: ifab2020 twitter: @sbbiomech www.ifab2020.com #fabman #ifab2020

In this episode, we have the pleasure of talking with the International Society of Biomechanics President, Toni Arndt. He shares the latest initiatives for internationalizing biomechanics and his 5 I's of a good researcher.

In this episode, Priyanka Aggarwal, a physical therapist with a Masters in Musculoskeletal disorders, learns how her background as a Physical therapist, as well as other areas, can transfer into the space of Biomechanics. To help answer that question, and many others, she speaks with Professor Rajiv Ranganathan, Assistant Professor in Kinesiology and Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University, and Fraje Watson, Ph.D. student at UCL, London.

In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Nachi Chockalingam, Professor of Clinical Biomechanics and Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine at Staffordshire University in Staffordshire, England. He shares his research on musculoskeletal biomechanics and gait analysis with special interests in scoliosis, foot and footwear biomechanics. We also cover his contributions to regulations and standards in medicine, including the World Health Organization's global standards for prosthetics and orthotics. We appreciate his insight on how we can keep the global impact of our research in mind! Special thank you to Tekscan (https://www.tekscan.com/) for introducing us to Nachi!

In this episode, we interview Professor Chris Haas, Associate Provost and Professor at the University of Florida. He talks about his research on the interplay between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system, including Parkinson's, and the importance of keeping your research patient-centered. Then we talk with Candace Gaudiani who shares her story with Parkinson's and her incredible outlook on the disease and life. Finally, we talk with doctoral student Caitlyn Kirby who wore a skirt made of rejection letters to defend her dissertation!

PhD Students Nick Bianco and Chris Dembia give us the low down on OpenSim Moco! Moco solves optimal control problems with musculoskeletal models defined in OpenSim, using direct collocation. We learn how it works and new problems we can now solve with it. They also share their experience developing a software toolkit, including insights into what it is like to work on it as a team and how it has fit in the scope of their PhD.

In this episode, Andrew Vigotsky, Biomedical Engineering PhD candidate at Northwestern University takes us through some common mechanical misconceptions in bioengineering and how we can avoid them.

In this incredibly inspiring episode, two amazing athletes, Blake Leeper and Lasse Madsen talk about their stories - Blake is a world record holder in the Paralympics with a goal to compete in the 2020 Olympics and Lasse is a gymnast, athlete, author, and amputee. Watch Blake's video, Let Leeper Run here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4PTYR5GRA8 Check out Lasse's website here: https://www.landingonmyfeet.dk/

How do we make science journals accessible to everyone? In this episode, PhD student Ricky Pimentel and Roger Paxton, Research Project Manager at Children's Hospital Colorado, interview a pioneer of open access for science, Peter Suber. They talk about the beginning, current barriers, and the future of open access.

After a new Journal Jumble segment, we talk with Professor Alena Grabowski of University of Colorado Boulder on her biomechanics research with para-athletes and how we can use science to promote inclusivity in the Olympics. After, we talk with Roland Sigrist the Executive Director of the Organising Committee of the Cybathlon, an international championship for robot-assisted competitors with disabilities, and get an inside scoop on the 2020 Cybathlon.