Thank you to everyone who participated in our 8th Annual Pruitt Research Day! This successful event included a full day of student talks, keynote speaker and poster presentations in celebration of the wonderful research being conducted in the department and the BME community.

We hold our celebration near the birth date of Dr. J. Crayton Pruitt Sr. whose vision and generosity helped found the department. Dr. Pruitt was always most excited to hear about and discuss the achievements and research being conducted by our students. You can read more about Dr. Pruitt here.

The Keynote speaker was Dr. Matthew Bellman, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer from Myolyn. Bellman received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Florida. Bellman joined the Nonlinear Controls and Robotics group as an undergraduate and continued research with the group throughout his graduate career. His research interests revolve around human movement and include robotic exoskeletons, high performance prosthetics, and functional electrical stimulation (FES). His doctoral dissertation was focused on the control of human muscle via FES for the purpose of rehabilitating people with paralysis. MYOLYN is a medical technology company that combines robotics and electrical stimulation to improve health and human performance. Bellman is responsible for product development, quality management, and regulatory affairs. MYOLYN has commercialized Bellman’s graduate research – an FES-cycling device for home use designed to be affordable and easy-to-use, making the technology accessible for a wider population than ever before.

We had five student talks and 38 poster presentations this year. Faculty members judged the posters and selected finalists. Thank you to all the students who worked hard preparing for your presentations.

Congratulations to the following award winners!

Day Best Oral Presentation: Shaheen Farhadi
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Gregory Hudalla

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best Poster Presentation: Stephanie Cernera
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Aysegul Gunduz

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Honorable Mention Poster Presentation: Anis Davoudi
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Parisa Rashidi