SPUR

ME undergraduate student works to address methane crisis in summer project

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:06:04 +0000

ME undergraduate student works to address methane crisis in summer project Alexander Jame… Fri, 08/29/2025 - 12:06

Alexander Servantez

Alex Hansen stepped foot in a landfill this summer for the first time to study the consequences of methane emissions. What he saw sparked a growing interest in climate change research and environmental data analysis.

Hansen, a rising senior in the Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering, spent his summer break in ��’s Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR).

Alex Hansen (right) working alongside graduate student SPUR mentor Gabriela Cortes (left) in the Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Research Lab.

The program aims to increase undergraduate research engagement and interest by pairing nearly 125 engineering students from across the college in research labs with faculty members and graduate mentors. For 10 weeks, students foster unique, hands-on research experiences—like a trip to a landfill in Los Angeles—and develop crucial skills that serve them well beyond their undergraduate journey.

For Hansen, it was a special curiosity that led him to the SPUR program. One that started from a simple conversation.

“I spoke with someone I ran into one day a while back who worked at a landfill. He was telling me how dangerous methane is and how important it is to burn off methane,” said Hansen. “I was just so fascinated by it all. When I saw the project description on the SPUR website, I knew it was something I wanted to learn more about.”

And dangerous is an understatement. Methane, one of Earth’s most potent greenhouse gases, is one of the primary contributors to climate change. Its atmospheric lifespan may be shorter than other greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, but it can trap significantly more heat per molecule, making it extremely hazardous to human and environmental health.

According to the UN Environment Programme, methane is 80 times more potent at warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. It’s also responsible for nearly 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times and is a key culprit for the formation of ground-level ozone, which causes one million premature deaths every year.

It’s a spiraling issue, but Hansen says his SPUR project titled “Characterizing Landfill Methane through a Low-Cost Ground-Based Sensor Network,” looks to attack the crisis by addressing some of the world’s most prevalent methane emissions sites.

“Landfills are one of the largest emitters of methane in the United States,” Hansen said. “I believe waste is about third for methane emissions across the entire world. If we are able to study a landfill and learn more about the way methane spreads in the atmosphere, maybe we can find a way to make improvements to landfill infrastructure and lower emissions.”

To do this, Hansen and his lab mates in Professor Michael Hannigan’s Hannigan Air Quality and Technology Research Lab started working with a network of 24 low-cost air quality sensors called L-Pods that were deployed across a landfill in Los Angeles at the beginning of 2025.

The L-Pods are equipped with two metal oxide sensors that collect air pollutant data and another sensor that tracks temperature and relative humidity. The data is then stored locally and transmitted to the cloud every 10 seconds for ongoing monitoring.

These unique sensors may not be as individually powerful as the industry-grade technology used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but they are cheap and efficient. This allows the group the ability to position more sensors across a landfill than they previously could, giving them a precise methane reading that represents a much larger region.

Hansen showcasing the inner workings of an L-Pod air quality sensor.

Hansen spent a majority of his summer SPUR experience helping the team analyze the data gathered from the sensors. But he was able to see the sensors in action firsthand at the Los Angeles landfill where they are deployed.

It was crazy seeing how much trash we make and the operations needed to contain it all,” said Hansen. “And these low-cost sensors were awesome to see, too. We can add so many more positions and measure way more often than traditional measuring devices. It’s super exciting to see the data we collect in real-time and how impactful it is.”

Hansen’s journey through the SPUR program ended with a final presentation at the end of July. It was a chance for him to share his learning and reflect on his summer.

In many ways, he said it was a rollercoaster ride filled with highs and lows. Some seasoned researchers might call that the typical research experience.

But Hansen also said it was valuable and fulfilling. So much so, that he might be eyeing a future career in research.

“Being in the lab was definitely a learning curve at first. Just learning the terminology and trying to get up to speed as quickly as possible was tough,” Hansen said. “But there’s so many opportunities to make a big impact in research. I’ve learned so much from amazing people this summer and I am definitely curious about pursuing research in a master’s program after graduation.”

Rising senior Alex Hansen spent his summer break in ��’s Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) studying the consequences of methane emissions. His work analyzing data gathered from unique methane detection sensors can one day help researchers address the methane crisis at some of the world's most prevalent methane emissions sites.

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Pioneering sodium-ion batteries: a sustainable energy alternative

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 23:16:06 +0000

Pioneering sodium-ion batteries: a sustainable energy alternative Alexander Jame… Fri, 12/13/2024 - 16:16

Associate Professor Chunmei Ban and her research team are exploring the use of sodium-ion batteries as an alternative to lithium-based energy storage. Sodium is widely distributed in the Earth's crust and is an appealing candidate to remedy concerns over resource scarcity with lithium-ion batteries.

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The ME SPUR Experience: Hodgkins, Kirk and Pérez research air quality impacts of Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home orders

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: Hodgkins, Kirk and Pérez research air quality impacts of Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home orders Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/23/2020 - 00:00

Mechanical engineering undergraduate researchers, Kirsty Hodgkins (left), Paula Pérez (center), and Evan Kirk (right).

The ME SPUR Program, modeled after CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research, enabled undergraduate students to work with mechanical engineering faculty during summer 2020 on research that could be conducted remotely. As participants, Kirsty Hodgkins, Evan Kirk and Paula Pérez worked with Professor Jana Milford to understand how reduced traffic, telecommuting and reduced industrial activity during Colorado's Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home orders have affected air quality with goals that the project would inform future strategies for improving air quality in the region beyond the timeframe of the COVID-19 pandemic. Their summer research project was titled, Impacts of Colorado’s Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home Orders on Air Quality.

Hodgkins is a rising fifth-year mechanical engineering student with minors in business and engineering management and a current member of the CU Women’s golf team. She is not yet sure what field of mechanical engineering she would like to pursue after graduating. Kirk is a fourth-year mechanical engineering student with career interests including public health and medicine. After completing his undergraduate studies, he plans to attend medical school to pursue a career in family medicine. Pérez is a fourth-year mechanical engineering student with an energy engineering minor. She is focusing her career on water and energy insecurity in underserved communities, supported by experience in data analysis, rural development projects and entrepreneurship.

Hodgkins, Kirk and Pérez's insights below provide a window into their research experience with ME SPUR.

Describe your summer research.

A visualization of average daily traffic levels taken over a week-long period, comparing Denver I-70 traffic levels in 2020 to traffic levels in years prior. It highlights the a reduction in traffic following the WHO declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic and the Colorado Stay-at-Home declaration.

A time series that shows how nitrogren dioxide changed week by week across five monitors by calculating medians for each week. This visualization shows a downward trend for nitrogen dioxide, mainly caused by normal seasonal effects with some weeks increasing or decreasing across most monitors more sharply.

Our project focused on understanding the impacts of the COVID-19 Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home orders on air quality in Colorado.The purpose of the study is to report to policymakers and the general public about our research topic in ways that might inform future pollution control strategies. Our team focused on three pollutants: Ozone, NO2 and PM2.5. We were each responsible for studying one of these pollutants. The goal of the project was to determine if these pollutants experienced changes in 2020 and to try to explain the observed trends by analyzing traffic data, oil and gas activity and meteorological impacts.

Pérez: It was my first time working so closely with data on different social and environmental factors, which for me revealed how important our assumptions are in analyzing said factors and how the relationships between them are rarely straightforward.

What was the end result of your research project?

Overall, all of the pollutants saw small differences in 2020 when compared to previous years. We were unable to find that these discrepancies were necessarily correlated to the decrease in traffic levels, and further analysis of explanatory variables would need to be studied to understand why we didn’t see the expected pollutant behavior. Studying meteorological values we determined that the temperature and humidity levels had a large effect on the pollutant levels which could have counteracted the effects from traffic reduction. However, further research is needed to provide a definitive answer as to why levels were only slightly different.

What was it like working on a research project remotely?

Working on a project remotely is always a difficult task; this was no different. Someone described the COVID-19 situation as "more like living at work than it is working from home” which feels very relatable. It was difficult not always being able to meet or talk with the other members regularly as you would in an office, but a weekly Zoom meeting helped to make sure we were all on the same page, and we were still able to communicate over email and Slack continuously. The upside was the flexibility of working under our own schedule and knowing we could always reach out to the group with questions.

What about this project was rewarding?

The most rewarding part of this project was seeing the final results and creating the report for the study after going from basic knowledge of air pollution to having a fairly solid understanding of the problem. It is challenging to summarize the work that goes into research concisely, and after doing so many different graphs, looking at so many different variables, it all seems to blend into one. However, looking back over, it was really interesting to see the connections that had been made, and it was satisfying to see everyone’s work compiled into a final deliverable. It’s a particularly tangible way to see all of your hard work from the summer.

What advice would you share with other students considering getting involved in research?

Hodgkins: Research is definitely something every engineering student should be a part of, especially mechanical students. Definitely keep an open mind heading into it, as engineering students we’re very much used to having an answer or a solution to a problem but research isn’t always like that. Sometimes you just have to accept the fact that maybe there wasn’t a change in anything or that the results were insignificant. Even insignificant results can mean something.

Kirk: The recommendation I would make to students who are thinking about getting involved in research is simply to be patient. It is best to move slowly, working meticulously to ensure you are drawing reasonable conclusions and are not making mistakes. Take the time to double- and sometimes triple-check your work. You will be happy you did later.

Pérez: It is truly a great learning experience as you quickly gain hard skills as well as soft skills like collaborating with a team and communicating your findings. You will also likely gain more depth in your understanding of the research subject that you might not get in classes.

As ME SPUR participants, Kirsty Hodgkins, Evan Kirk and Paula Pérez worked with Professor Jana Milford to understand how reduced traffic, telecommuting and reduced industrial activity during Colorado's Stay-at-Home and Safer-at-Home orders have affected air quality with goals that the project would inform future strategies for improving air quality.

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The ME SPUR Experience: Smith models the human abdomen for ultrasound simulation

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: Smith models the human abdomen for ultrasound simulation Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/21/2020 - 00:00

Mechanical engineering undergraduate researcher, Ryan Smith.

The ME SPUR Program, modeled after CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research, enabled undergraduate students to work with mechanical engineering faculty during summer 2020 on research that could be conducted remotely. As a participant, Ryan Smith worked with Assistant Professor Nick Bottenus to use medical image data to develop 3D finite element models of the abdominal wall and perform various compressions to mimic clinical practice. His summer research project was titled, Modeling the Human Abdomen for Ultrasound Simulation.

Smith will be finishing his final semester in mechanical engineering at �� this fall. His interests include numerical methods/analysis, computer modeling and fluid mechanics. His insights below provide a window into his research experience with ME SPUR.

Describe your summer research.

Ultrasound is commonly used to image structures within the abdomen; however, these images are often degraded by acoustic clutter such as aberration and reverberation. Interestingly, it is observed that compressing the ultrasound transducer into the abdomen improves image quality. However, it is not fully understood why. Simulations may help to better understand this effect. The goal of this project is to predict the deformation of the abdomen under compression using FEA. These results can then be used in Fullwave, a tool for modeling nonlinear propagation and multiple scattering of ultrasound through heterogeneous tissues.

Top: Cross section of an abdominal wall.
Bottom: The results of the finite element analysis are used to construct an image of the compressed abdomen.

What was it like working remotely?

This project was well suited for remote work. I was able to interact with my research supervisor, Professor Bottenus during weekly meetings which helped to guide my efforts and at certain points, received feedback and improvements on my code. Moreover, I received some helpful tips on the FE part of the problem from Professor Mark Palmeri at Duke and Boyuan Liu, a member of Professor Maureen Lynch’s lab.

What challenges did you encounter and work through as part of your project?

Converting a 3D medical image into a mesh is no simple task. Before coming across iso2mesh, I had multiple attempts at this problem. At first, I tried constructing a surface mesh for the outer shape of the abdomen, generating an internal mesh based on this surface mesh, and then assigning materials to elements in the mesh based on the 3D image. The problem with this method is that the internal boundaries separating the various tissue domains are not modeled well, as the mesh was generated with no knowledge of the internal structures. In an attempt to improve upon this, I developed two additional methods, each with its own issues before finding iso2mesh.

What about this project was rewarding?

For me, the most rewarding part of the project was writing the code to map between the original and deformed images. I was able to use my knowledge of shape functions which I learned about in Professor Debanjan Mukherjee’s CFD class, to map coordinates between the undeformed and deformed meshes. Moreover, this part of the project was a lesson in the computational expense of code. Originally, using a test mesh, the mapping took over eight hours to complete. With the aid of Professor Bottenus, and by making some modifications to the algorithm myself, this time was reduced to around three hours.

What advice would you share with other students considering getting involved in research?

Learn how to find and use manuals/documentation for software you are unfamiliar with. Most software will have these sorts of resources if you look. Moreover, create the same resources for anything you come up with so that others can easily learn and follow what you have done.

As an ME SPUR participant, Ryan Smith worked with Assistant Professor Nick Bottenus to use medical image data to develop 3D finite element models of the abdominal wall and perform various compressions to mimic clinical practice.

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The ME SPUR Experience: DiTomas explores minimum energy requirements for robotic missions

Anonymous — Fri, 18 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: DiTomas explores minimum energy requirements for robotic missions Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/18/2020 - 00:00

As an ME SPUR participant, Paul DiTomas worked with Research Professor John Pellegrino to perform analysis for scenarios of the minimum energy requirement for robotic missions that will be used in a review article about portable power devices for next-gen robots.

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The ME SPUR Experience: Evans tests a miniature tank-tread robot

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: Evans tests a miniature tank-tread robot Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/16/2020 - 00:00

Mechanical engineering undergraduate researcher, Sydney Evans.

The ME SPUR Program, modeled after CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research, enabled undergraduate students to work with mechanical engineering faculty during summer 2020 on research that could be conducted remotely. As a participant, Sydney Evans worked with Assistant Professor Kaushik Jayaram to develop a novel robot capable of sticking to and navigating virtually any surface, leveraging adhesion mechanisms involving electrostatic attraction. The first stage of the project would involve extensive literature review, building on an existing design and developing a modeling framework for scalable fabrication. Her summer research project was titled, Miniature Tank-Tread Robot Capable of Vertical and Inverted Climbing.

Evans is a third-year student at �� studying mechanical engineering and applied mathematics. She is actively engaged on campus through the club swim team, Global Engineering RAP and as president of CU’s chapter of Engineers in Action. Her insights below provide a window into her research experience with ME SPUR.

Describe your summer research.

My research project is through the Animal Inspired Motion and Robotics Lab (AIM-RL) which was created by Professor Kaushik Jayaram. The goal of the project is to create a small robot that utilizes electroadhesion (which takes advantage of the attractive forces generated between electrically-induced opposite charges) to climb inclined conductive surfaces. This course of action will allow us to engage in the developing fields of electroadhesion and micro-robotic technologies.

This summer, my pursuit of this project involved reading a lot of literature about electroadhesion and robotics, as well as coding in Arduino and using Solidworks to make 3D models. I also designed an experimental “arena” that will be used to test the robot. I am really excited about this project, because I will continue working on it this fall as part of an independent study. This means that I will be able to follow through with my designs and code and integrate them into a functional version of the robot.

What was it like conducting research remotely?

I had a lot of opportunities to engage with the other members of my lab group; this was one component of my experience that stood out to me from the beginning. Working together and using each other’s expertise was highly encouraged by Dr. Jayaram. In one of our meetings early this summer, we did a mini-symposium within our lab so that everyone could present what they were working on, their background and experiences. I had multiple meetings with my lab members who gave me feedback and assisted with my coding and designing my testing space. While remote work was not ideal, it was well managed and now I can take advantage of the upcoming opportunity to be on campus and utilize our lab space.

What about this project was rewarding?

The miniature tank tread robot ascending an incline.

At the very beginning of this project, I was trying to practice and remember CAD, read papers and wait for Dr. Jayaram to provide instructions. One day, I read a paper about electroadhesive pad designs. I came to a section where I started jotting down questions and thoughts about the tread design of our robot. I went into my next meeting with Dr. Jayaram excited about this paper and with a lot of questions. I loved feeling like my engineering education was kicking into gear and having a real-life effect. I gained just enough confidence in myself and what I was trying to do so that when I went through all of the other difficult and daunting moments of the summer, instead of feeling like I was too inexperienced for the job, I felt as if they were normal obstacles any undergraduate engineer in research would face.

As a student new to conducting research, what skills did you bring to the project that helped you be successful?

Prior to this, I did not have any experience in engineering research. I was surprised at how often I drew on the material from my classes (I actually drew a free body diagram at one point!) such as physics, dynamics, and material science. The skills that have been most useful were Solidworks, LaTeX, and googling coding solutions and functions. These were all skills that I developed during my first two years at ��, and I don’t think my experience would have been as fun or meaningful if I had done it earlier in my career without some of these basics.

What advice would you share with other students considering getting involved in research?

Try it. I was a little intimidated and turned off by research initially, because I thought it was more about reading and writing papers and took too much time to make any interesting progress. This can be more true of research in other fields, but that shouldn’t be a reason to forego a learning experience in a research lab. Also, professors really like to share their research and are looking for students who are interested in the same things, not necessarily those who have all of the skills they need. Sitting down with a professor and hearing about their research does not obligate you to engage with it, you can walk away and find something different, or even better, have them help you connect with an alternative lab you are more interested in.

As an ME SPUR participant, Sydney Evans worked with Assistant Professor Kaushik Jayaram to develop a novel robot capable of sticking to and navigating virtually any surface, leveraging electrostatic attraction.

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The ME SPUR Experience: Gruener researches magnetic field design

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: Gruener researches magnetic field design Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/14/2020 - 00:00

Mechanical engineering undergraduate researcher, Jonathon Gruener.

The ME SPUR Program, modeled after CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research, enabled undergraduate students to work with mechanical engineering faculty during summer 2020 on research that could be conducted remotely. As a participant, Jonathon Gruener worked with Associate Professor Svenja Knappe to create a testing environment for highly-sensitive miniature magnetic field sensors with non-invasive brain imaging, space and industrial applications. The goal of the project was to first model the desired field environment, and once the coil geometries were defined, design, print, and assemble magnetic field coils, with the final step being to measure and compare with the model. Gruener's summer research project was titled, Magnetic Field Design.

Gruener is a second-year student in the mechanical engineering department at ��. He is a passionate learner and especially excited to participate in projects that focus on mechanical engineering and computer science. His insights below provide a window into his research experience with ME SPUR.

Describe your summer research.

The purpose of the research project I have been working on has been to create a model of the magnetic field produced by an octagonal array of rectangular wire coils to determine the percent homogeneity. Originally, I was trying to model a cylindrical coil of wire but the math and requisite time to model that design proved to be overly complex, so my professor and I decided to attempt the octagonal shape instead. For me, the majority of this process has taken place using Mathematica to create various graphs and equations to model the magnetic fields. I have also spent time searching for academic papers that could apply to the research.

The result of my project was a working model of an octagonal array of rectangular coils with the potential for variation of almost every aspect of the coils: from length and width to individual currents. Additionally, I created various functions to test the homogeneity with different criteria. This model will be used to inform whether Professor Knappe and her researchers will attempt to build an octagonal array of coils for testing their microfabricated sensors or try a different shape.

Visual model of octagonal coil array and the resulting magnetic field.

What challenges did you encounter and work through as part of your project?

The challenges I faced most often this summer surrounded Mathematica. While there is a lot of documentation available from Wolfram Alpha, it often explains only the use of the function and not the behind-the-scenes workings of it. This often resulted in small errors that eventually compounded into a very unexpected result. An example of this was using a function to plot vectors in three dimensions. When creating my methods of testing homogeneity, I needed to measure and compare the z-component of each vector. However, while plotting the vectors, Mathematica scaled them in an unexpected way that didn’t appear to be explained in their documentation. To solve that issue, I created a mock graph that allowed me to access and manipulate the scaled vectors and then apply them to my final graph and comparisons.

What about this project was rewarding?

The most rewarding part of the project for me was seeing the final model and verifying that the digital representation concurred with the equations I had been given. It took a lot of modification of existing equations and research to create my model, and it felt great to see it all come together visually.

What advice would you share with other students considering getting involved in research?

Some advice I would share with other students considering getting involved in research is to trust your abilities to learn and adapt on the fly. Just because you don’t understand a component of the project doesn’t mean you will never understand it.

As an ME SPUR participant, Jonathon Gruener worked with Associate Professor Svenja Knappe to create a testing environment for highly-sensitive miniature magnetic field sensors with non-invasive brain imaging, space and industrial applications.

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The ME SPUR Experience: Beiter researches image-based modeling for cardiovascular systems

Anonymous — Fri, 11 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: Beiter researches image-based modeling for cardiovascular systems Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/11/2020 - 00:00

Mechanical engineering undergraduate researcher, Andrew Beiter.

Beiter is a third-year student at �� studying mechanical engineering who is also pursuing minors in philosophy and astrophysical and planetary sciences. His insights below provide a window into his research experience with ME SPUR.

Describe your summer research.

Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs) are a primary treatment modality for end stage heart failure patients. LVADs are mechanical pumps that are surgically attached to the heart and the aorta. The end goal of the project I’ve been working on this summer is to use embolus transport simulations on patient-specific models of various surgical attachment configurations of LVADs to the human aorta to see how the attachment influences blood flow and embolus (or blood clot) distribution. The purpose of this is to compare how differences in surgical attachment affect the likelihood of embolic particles going from the aortic arch up the carotid arteries towards the brain. This information can then be used by surgeons in determining how to attach the LVAD to best mitigate the risk of stroke.

The end result of my work this summer was the development of a computer simulation pipeline which can be used to run embolus transport simulations on patient-specific models that can accurately report the distribution of embolic particles to each possible arterial branch of the aortic arch. This work is part of a larger continuing research project in Professor Mukherjee’s group, where I plan to use this pipeline to determine ideal or optimal surgical attachment options to minimize stroke risk in patients who need LVADs, providing valuable information to surgeons. Eventually, a similar process can be used for any situation involving particle transport in blood vessels and stroke mechanics for other physiological interventions as well.

What was it like conducting research remotely?

Working on this project remotely didn’t prove to be too much of a challenge, as all of the work I did was computational by nature. The models and flow profiles I used were developed by another graduate student in the group that I worked with regularly, and I had quite a few questions for Professor Mukherjee while becoming familiar with the VCPrePost package. Also, there were a lot of opportunities associated with just being a member of the group, more than my project specifically, such as participating in a lab journal club and having a valuable resource to experience new things in group learning sessions.

What about this project was rewarding?

The most rewarding aspect of this project for me was knowing that the work I was doing could potentially be used to help save people’s lives by lowering their risk of stroke. The project is part of a clinical collaboration, and it’s good to know that the work I’m doing provides valuable information that can be used by clinicians. Also, I’m really proud of how much I’ve learned this summer, as I had no prior experience with anything similar to the framework I used, and running the simulations is a very advanced task.

Did you have any research experience prior to ME SPUR?

I had no research experience prior to joining Professor Mukherjee’s group and found it to be a very valuable experience. Problem solving and communication skills turned out to be the biggest assets I had in completing my project, as I was working with new and unfamiliar software and also had very little background in the biomedical field in general. Being able to tap into the knowledge and experience of my professor and other group members was hugely beneficial to making what at times felt like a daunting task much more doable.

What advice would you share with other students considering research?

I’d say that anybody considering getting involved in research should definitely go for it. The nature of research involves working on often entirely new problems and using novel software/tools/equipment that might not even be fully out of the development stage, which makes it a very unique experience that you can’t get by taking classes. It can also make it seem intimidating at times, and you might feel as though you run into a lot of difficulties, but your research group and advisors are there to help you succeed and ensure that it’s a valuable learning experience. I’ve learned a huge amount of new things and developed many new skills in a fairly short timeframe. Worst case scenario, you decide you don’t like research, but even then, that’s a worthwhile thing to find out, and you’ll still get a lot from the experience.

[video:https://youtu.be/nLdG8a7Meho]

As an ME SPUR participant, Andrew Beiter worked with Assistant Professor Debanjan Mukherjee to develop an in-house library of models for arterial hemodynamics in human patients, using CT and MRI scans and microscopy image data. His summer research project was titled, Image-Based Modeling for Cardiovascular Systems.

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The ME SPUR Experience: Beattie researches image-based elastography in the deforming cell nucleus

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: Beattie researches image-based elastography in the deforming cell nucleus Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/09/2020 - 00:00

Mechanical engineering undergraduate researcher, Julia Beattie.

The ME SPUR Program, modeled after CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research, enabled undergraduate students to work with mechanical engineering faculty during summer 2020 on research that could be conducted remotely. As a participant, Julia Beattie worked with Professor Corey Neu to measure intranuclear mechanics. The goal was to provide a non-invasive framework to investigate the mechanobiological function of subcellular and subnuclear domains limited only by the spatiotemporal resolution of the image acquisition method. Her summer research project was titled, Image-Based Elastography of Heterochromatin and Euchromatin Domains in the Deforming Cell Nucleus.

Beattie is a third-year student from Centennial whose area of focus in the mechanical engineering department is in biomedical engineering. Beattie hopes to use her engineering education to work on medical devices or research to improve people’s quality of life. Her insights below provide a window into her research experience with ME SPUR.

Describe your summer research.

The goal of my project was to assist the Neu Lab in automating their deformation microscopy code and also, to beta test their new graphical user interface (GUI). Deformation microscopy is a technique that utilizes conventional imaging and a hyperelastic warping algorithm to analyze deformation and strain patterns within cell nuclei. In the GUI, the user inputs images of a cell nucleus before and after a mechanical deformation. Then, the program processes the images, runs a warping algorithm and creates a map of intranuclear strains. I have been running images through the program to look for errors and ways to improve it.

We made progress towards an automated, user-friendly program. The goal is for the program to be published for use in other labs where it will hopefully be used to contribute to further research of cell mechanobiology. The Neu Lab also plans to continue using deformation microscopy in future work in intracellular elastography which could potentially help in many mechanobiological applications.

What was it like conducting research remotely?

It was surprisingly uncomplicated to work in a remote format. I did most of the work on a remote desktop that I accessed from my computer. I had weekly Zoom meetings with my supervisor and other lab members. Between meetings, I regularly communicated and shared my findings with the other lab members via email and Slack.

What challenges did you encounter and work through as part of your project?

One of the main challenges was working with a Mac while the rest of the lab had PCs. Certain software packages function differently (or not at all) on my computer compared to theirs. However, the remote desktop helped, and this obstacle ultimately turned into an opportunity: my ability to run the deformation microscopy code on my computer allowed the team to start developing code that is compatible with macOS.

What about this project was rewarding?

It was very rewarding to see my findings and suggestions implemented. This program will someday be used in a variety of mechanobiological research labs, and I can say I helped make it usable.

Did you have any research experience prior to ME SPUR?

I had no experience with research prior to this program. My experience with MATLAB from past classes helped me understand the program I was working with. Additionally, my modest knowledge of cellular biology from past courses (I used to be a chemical and biological engineering major) helped me grasp the biological concepts of cell mechanics more quickly.

What advice would you share with other students considering getting involved in research?

I would highly recommend applying, even if you feel like your qualifications are not good enough. I almost didn’t apply for that reason, but I’m glad that I did. You will learn technical skills, develop communication and teamwork skills and make new connections.

Images from Beattie's research showing an analysis of deformation and strain patterns within a cell nucleus. Inputs are shown in the left two images and results are shown in the right two images.

As an ME SPUR participant, Julia Beattie worked with Professor Corey Neu to measure intranuclear mechanics. The goal was to provide a non-invasive framework to investigate the mechanobiological function of subcellular and subnuclear domains limited only by the spatiotemporal resolution of the image acquisition method.

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The ME SPUR Experience: Hall develops a GUI application to drive a chemistry automation robot

Anonymous — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 06:00:00 +0000

The ME SPUR Experience: Hall develops a GUI application to drive a chemistry automation robot Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 09/07/2020 - 00:00

Mechanical engineering undergraduate researcher, Justin Hall.

The ME SPUR Program, modeled after CU Summer Program for Undergraduate Research, enabled undergraduate students to work with mechanical engineering faculty during summer 2020 on research that could be conducted remotely. As a participant, Justin Hall worked with Assistant Professor Carson Bruns to develop a desktop application that will allow scientists to control a robot that automates weighing and dispensing chemicals, running chemical reactions and purification. His summer research project was titled, Development of a GUI Application to Drive a Chemistry Automation Robot.

Hall is a third-year undergraduate student in the mechanical engineering department with a minor in computer science who is interested in pursuing robotics research and development in the future. His insights below provide a window into his research experience with ME SPUR.

Describe your summer research.

I have been working on the organic chemistry automation project for the Emergent Nanomaterials Lab. The goal of this project is to design a robotic system to carry out all of the tasks a chemist would do when completing an organic chemistry reaction, given a series of input parameters set-up by a user on an external device. My role has been to establish a connection between the motors used to move the axes of the robot and a graphical user interface (GUI) I am designing that will allow the user to control and program the system from their own computer.

After getting acquainted with the project and the necessary chemistry, robotics, software and user interface design that I would need, I first chose a suitable single board computer that acts as the connector between the "brain" that controls the motors and sensors on the robot and the GUI. For this, I chose a Raspberry Pi 4 and began establishing a connection between the Raspberry Pi and both the motor's brain and the GUI application. From there, I brought the whole system together so that a user interacting with the GUI on an external computer can send commands to the motors. I then switched gears to begin designing the layout for the GUI and researching the best way to transfer traditional chemistry to entering commands on a computer.

Currently, I am collaborating with other people in the lab group to make the design friendly and efficient for chemists. In the future, my contribution will be combined with the mechanical and electrical designs to complete the robot.

Raspberry Pi computer connected to VEX motor controller and desktop GUI code.

What challenges did you encounter and work through as part of your project?

One challenge I encountered was that while setting up the connection between the Raspberry Pi computer and the motor controller, I wasn’t able to run the necessary software on the Raspberry Pi. After trying for a long time to solve the problem myself, I finally asked someone more knowledgeable on this subject than I was over an online forum. They were able to quickly explain to me that I was running the wrong operating system. This realization necessitated a substantial backtrack. From this, I learned to be more aware of when to ask for help.

What about this project was rewarding?

Any time I made a breakthrough in my research was an amazing feeling. It was highly rewarding when I successfully established any of the connections between two systems. Seeing the chain of command between the GUI and motors come together was also quite rewarding.

Did you have any research experience prior to ME SPUR?

While I didn’t have experience with research before starting this project, I did feel prepared. The most relevant experience I had coming into the project was from classes in computer science and electronics, but I found persistence and trial and error particularly important as well. I learned that my technical skills were somewhat secondary to the ability to find reliable and relevant solutions to problems and tasks. This was because a large portion of my work was focused on parsing through possible solutions to design problems and then applying them using technical knowledge.

What advice would you share with other students considering getting involved in research?

I would advise other students to learn when to ask for help. Research requires developing technologies or ideas rather than learning them and is therefore a very collaborative endeavor. Also, set goals and deadlines for yourself, because many of the tasks given in research work are individual, especially as we are all working remotely.

As an ME SPUR participant, Justin Hall worked with Assistant Professor Carson Bruns to develop a desktop application that will allow scientists to control a robot that automates weighing and dispensing chemicals, running chemical reactions and purification.

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