REU Site: Imaging and Mechanics-based Projects on Accidental Cases of Trauma (IMPACT)

This three-year REU Site offers multidisciplinary biomedical engineering opportunities related to understanding injuries. REU students will gain a fundamental understanding of injury research, develop into more independent researchers, and be encouraged to pursue further education and careers in biomedical research. Ten students each year will engage in innovative research projects that range from predictive models for injury to advancements in military, sports, and spaceflight safety to improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to prevent, mitigate, and treat injuries.

The project includes recruiting freshmen and sophomore students and those students with little to no prior research experience. Participants will work with faculty mentors to engage in research projects, disseminate research findings through publications, conference abstracts, presentations, patents, and explore potential careers in biomedical engineering.

The goals of the ten-week summer REU program are to: offer biomedical engineering research experiences to students where they learn about medical imaging, biomechanics, digital health techniques, spaceflight safety improvements and diagnostic and treatment paradigms for osteoporosis, radiation therapy, and brain injury which they will apply to study cases of accidental injury; educate students on the research process, research ethics, dissemination of findings through publication and presentation, and the societal implications of their research through hands-on training paired with seminars on biomedical research and professional development topics; cultivate mentoring relationships among REU participants, graduate students and faculty mentors that extend beyond the summer program and provide support, guidance, and encouragement as participants develop into more confident and independent scientific researchers; and foster an early interest in biomedical engineering research to impact the career plans of the REU participants. Ten REU participants will receive hands-on research and opportunities to present their research results at the end-of-summer symposium and at a national conference.

Research training, education on the research process and professional development topics, and mentorship will provide REU students with opportunities to learn about imaging, mechanics, and digital health projects related to mechanistic, physiological, anatomical, and other fundamental factors of accidental injury.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.