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My Past Three Years of Research
My Past Three Years of Research
Hi, I'm Aidan and I've been a part of science research since sophomore year. Over the last three years my research has branched off in many directions, partly due to covid but also as a product of my curiosity as I learned more about the topics I studied. Below I've laid out some of my work from my time in the program. I hope you find it as interesting as I do!
How it began:
How it began:
One day, I stumbled upon an article in Popular Mechanics detailing the progress that had been made in the fabrication of artificial muscles, sparking my interest in the topic and the beginning of the research and communication with experts in the field for the next two years. As I dug into the topic my focus became more specific and shifted away from the makeup of the actuators and towards their implementation in prosthetics for individuals with a limited range of motion or injuries. During this time I was also in contact with multiple professors across the country and some even in Australia, helping guide my work, and I eventually ended up visiting a lab at the City College of New York and talked with the researchers there. Unfortunately, not long after this school was shut down due to covid and I was forced to switch topics, but I do have a paper to show for the work I put in over those two years.
What My Work Looked Like This Year
What My Work Looked Like This Year
Unfortunately, I could not continue my research on artificial muscles this year because the labs where I was planning on doing work were closed. So, for the first half of the year I was tasked with writing a review of literature on a new topic of my choice. I've always been interested in nature and how to protect it, so I chose to research the damage done by plastic pollution and steps we can take to eliminate the problem in the future. For the second semester I wrote another review of literature, but this time the topics were chosen from a list of somewhat obscure ideas, and I chose banana spiders. After a few google searches I found that banana spiders have been extensively studied for their silk because of the extreme tensile strength demonstrated by its main structural silk, dragline silk.
Plans for the Future
Plans for the Future
Next year I will be attending UConn, where I am planning on studying both mechanical and biomedical engineering. I've been set on mechanical engineering for as long as I can remember, but after spending two years researching within the field of biomedical engineering, the possibility of combining these fields has been a dream of mine that I know I will be able to achieve at UConn.
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