MRI: Acquisition of a Hyper-Frequency Viscoelastic Spectroscopy Instrument for Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research and Education

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This NSF MRI award funds the acquisition of a hyper-frequency viscoelasticspectroscopy (HFVS) instrument for materials characterization. It is especially well suited formeasuring viscoelastic properties of biological tissues and artificial polymers because it canmake non-contacting, non-destructive measurements on small-sized samples over a wideexcitation frequency range. The HFVS instrument will be immediately used in five currentresearch projects: 1) computational simulation of traumatic brain injury; 2) determining the roleof active and passive forces in microvascular network formation; 3) dynamic characterization ofunderactuated legged locomotion, 4) design and fabrication of perching landing gear for microaerialvehicles, and 5) characterization of a biodegradable, biocompatible co-polymer. The mostsignificant contribution resulting from use of the instrument on each project is: 1) constitutivemodels for human brain tissue at high strain rates appropriate for blast-response simulation andanalysis; 2) characterization of a new extra-cellular matrix biomimetics for studying the effectsof both active and passive mechanical environments on cells, 3) material-tunable, dynamicmodels of underactuated legged locomotion for milli-scale robots, 4) tunable-stiffness and ?damping, polymer fabrication processes for perching landing gear mechanisms, and 5)manufacturing processes for controlling the properties of a class of environmentally-friendly, copolymersfor medical applications. In addition to supporting ongoing research, the instrumentwill enable future research involving related materials and will open new research areas inbioengineering, material science, and mechanical engineeringThe HFVS instrument will substantially enhance metrology capabilities at Olin College enablingthe characterization of materials ranging in stiffness from very compliant, nearly liquid (e.g.,gels) to very rigid by quantitative measurement of mechanical stiffness and energy dissipationrelated properties. The characterization of materials plays an integral part in a wide range ofresearch problems especially those including computer simulations and the custom design andmanufacturing of components or structures involving the given materials. The acquisition of aHFVS instrument will have significant positive impact on Olin College?s research capability,undergraduate research training efforts, and curriculum. The instrument will directly support thetraining and education of undergraduates at Olin College where approximately 45% of studentsand 55% of the bioengineering, material science, and mechanical engineering majors are women.Research training is incorporated throughout the curriculum directly into project-based andlaboratory-based coursework. Students have numerous individual research opportunities to workwith faculty during the academic year and in the summer. The instrument will be specificallyutilized in a number of courses and will be particularly useful in the senior-year, engineeringcapstone course in which student teams tackle industry-sponsored projects.