Active Materials and Smart Living (AMSL) Lab

Responsibilities include:

• Researched electroactive polymers (EAPs), focusing on ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) and their use as flexible fluid flow sensors for naval and underwater applications.
• Communicated directly with multiple vendors for acquiring and configuring substantial equipment related to the experimental setup for ONR Grant N00014-16-1-2356.
• Modeled with CAD software and utilized additive manufacturing for experimental testing platforms.
• Fabricated EAP actuators and sensors in a wet laboratory environment for applications in soft robotics and flow sensing.
• Developed physics-based models using COMSOL software for fluid-structure interaction studies, and vortex shedding for a MEMS vortex flowmeter.
• Design of experiments and data acquisition for various EAP actuators and sensors.
• Utilized various imaging and image processing techniques; including the development of a computer vision-based software in Wolfram Mathematica for tracking sensor deflection, travel velocity, and vortex shedding.
• Lead on Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) equipment attainment and setup. Wrote Standard Operating Procedure and implemented safety protocols for use.

Soft Mechatronics (SM) & Robotics Lab

Responsibilities include:

• Collaborated with a multinational team in South Korea researching soft-robotics and artificial muscles at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (NSF Grant #1545857).
• Fabricated and modeled a piezoelectric energy harvesting ring-type transducer comprised of a PVDF film supported by a PDMS substrate
• Fabricated EAP actuators and sensors in a wet laboratory environment for applications in soft robotics and flow sensing.
• Designed and assembled a testing apparatus for the energy harvester ring, along with a fingerbending model using additive manufacturing and laser cutting.