Design Team
Kate Brizzi, Mariana Garcia, Ewelina Styczyska, Seetal Erramilli, Kelly Twomey, Mara ModestCEO
Kate Brizzi is a senior bioengineering student at Penn State University in the chemical engineering option. Over the past four years, she has worked in a biomechanics research lab studying how exercise effects bone quality. Such in-depth study has allowed Ms. Brizzi to develop her skills as a researcher and has augmented her knowledge of force relationships, two essential skills, which will contribute to the pressure sensor project’s goals. Additionally, Kate has taken courses in biomechanics, bioinstrumentation, and computer programming that will aid in the construction of the design prototype. Lastly, as a future medical school student, Kate has had significant contact with wheelchair-bound patients, particularly through volunteering experiences at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Her understanding of the patient’s concerns will help guide the team toward the creation of a design that incorporates quality of living considerations.
Finance Manager and Secretary
Mariana Garcia has worked at a research lab since her freshman year. She has been responsible for several projects of increasing complexity, and is used to working under budget and time constraints. Having published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented her research at national and international conferences, she has had experience in communicating her research to a wide range of audiences. Mariana believes that her research, budget- and time-management, and communication skills will assist the group in the completion of this semester’s project.
Gatekeeper and Facilitator
Ewelina Styczynska is qualified for this project for many reasons. One of which is the near completion of her undergraduate Bioengineering degree with Honors from the Pennsylvania State University. As part of her required courses, she has taken a class about circuits as well as a lab course building circuits with OP Amps, both of which are similar to those of the proposed project. In addition to her course work, she has two years of lab experience of acquiring, processing, and interpreting scientific data that will be useful for the design and testing phases of the project. Furthermore, she has a drive to raise the quality of life, as can be seen by her three year dedication to the human rights group Amnesty International, and sees a great need for the proposed technology.
Design Manager
Seetal Erramilli is a senior in Bioengineering with specialization in Mechanical Engineering. He is a qualified candidate for this project because of his diversified experience in both academic research and industry. As part of the Honor’s program he is working in a Mechanotransduction lab, developing new methods of analyzing medical images and interfacing them with computer aided design tools. In addition to this research, he also worked at Stryker Orthopedics, a Fortune 500 Company, for 8 months. During this experience he interacted with renowned surgeons, designed various instruments and inspection tools, and addressed product complaints of hip implants. In his academic and company endeavors, Seetal has become very proficient in various computer- aided-design tools (Pro/E & SolidWorks) and has gained valuable knowledge of the design process with medical devices. With these diversified skill sets Seetal can make valuable contributions during the phases of design, testing, and customer interaction.
Testing Manager
Mara Modest is majoring in both Bioengineering and Integrative Arts at Penn State. She has volunteered for the Special Olympics as well for the Centre Volunteers in Medicine in State College, PA. These experiences as well as caring for her grandfather who had Alzheimers, have prepared her for visiting a rehabilitation hospital. Her Integrative Arts major will be useful in the design process for the pressure sensor and looking at the project from a non-engineering perspective. Mara has taken a computer-programming course, which will be helpful for programming the PIC. She has also taken a statistics course, which will help in the testing phase of the design process.
Timekeeper
Kelly Twomey is a senior Bioengineering student with an emphasis in mechanical engineering and a minor in Engineering Mechanics. She has research experience in a biomechanics laboratory studying normal, pathologic, and reconstructed bones and joints. Additionally, she has worked as a research assistant directly with patients in a Human Physiology laboratory. Kelly has had 5 years of engineering experience in industry at 3 engineering firms whose focuses lie in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and software development, three areas that will be fundamental in the development of this wheelchair pressure sensor. She has been involved in a research project based heavily on developing statistical methods of regression analysis in Perl, experience that will aid in both programming the device’s logic and analyzing results. In addition to programming in Perl, MATLAB and C++, Kelly also has experience in Microsoft office, Finite Element Analysis and XFDTD, an electromagnetic solver based on the Finite Difference Time Domain method. Her significant achievements include coauthoring an article later presented at a national conference.
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