Daniel Waldram received an honorable mention award for Best Poster at the ISMR 2022 Workshop on Diversity in Surgical Training Research for his project involving human robot interaction and the Robotic Adaptive Screen Mount (RASM).
Katie Allen – Scholarship Recipient
Katie Allen received two scholarships:
Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe Workplace Scholarship
David J. Burton Endowed Scholarship
Katie was recently honored at the RMCOEH Advisory Board Meeting on May 20, 2022 and is grateful to be a recipient of these prestigious awards. Katie is researching how wearable smart garments can be used to collect human movement data to better understand injury causation and improve workplace design.
2022 Graduates
Some of the happiest (and saddest) days of an advisor’s career is graduation. This year was remarkable, given that 7 students from the E&S Lab completed their advanced degrees and another current student finished her BS as a steppingstone to continue pursuing a PhD. We have experienced some of the most difficult times ever to be a student during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet despite these challenges, the grit, tenacity and creativity of these students came through as seen by their performance and accomplishments. Congratulations to:
- Sarvenaz Chaeibakhsh, PhD
- Nicholas Gomez, PhD
- Dorothy Taylor, PhD
- Jamie Herridge, MS
- Scott Tew, MS
- Erik Steenburgh, MS
- Daniel Waldram, MS
- Katrina Cernucan, BS
The future is in good hands!
RMASB 2022 Conference
After a 2-year hiatus from in-person conference participation, we made the trek across Wyoming to attend and participate in the 12th Annual RMASB Meeting (Rocky Mountain ASB (google.com). We caught up with old friends and connected with new people to form exciting collaborations.
Our E&S students were well represented:
Nick Gomez: Upper-extremity kinematics and interlimb coordination of persons with Parkinson’s disease are sensitive to the environment
Jamie Herridge: Leveraging Prehistoric Footwear to Reconstruct Ancient Running Biomechanics
Katie Allen: Quantifying Upper Body Postures with a Motion Sensing Garment
Collaboration – Single-Bundle ACL Reconstruction OpenSim Modeling
Dr. Hang Xu (former PhD Student) continues to advise and conduct impactful research related to his PhD work with Dr. Merryweather. Congratulations on another article published!
Classifying Hazardous Movements Using Instrumented Insoles
Dr. Mitja Trkov lead this research as a Post-Doctoral Trainee in the Ergonomics and Safety Lab. We are thrilled to have the work published in Applied Ergonomics and invite you to access the article using the link below:
We present a machine learning algorithm to detect and classify MMH tasks using minimally-intrusive instrumented insoles and chest-mounted accelerometers. Six participants performed standing, walking, lifting/lowering, carrying, side-to-side load transferring (i.e., 5.7 kg and 12.5 kg), and pushing/pulling. Lifting and carrying loads as well as hazardous behaviors (i.e., stooping, overextending and jerky lifting) were detected with 85.3%/81.5% average accuracies with/without chest accelerometer. The proposed system allows for continuous exposure assessment during MMH and provides objective data for use with analytical risk assessment models that can be used to increase workplace safety through exposure estimation.
ASSP Student Group Recruitment Fair
Students from the Utah Student Section of the American Society of Safety Prfessionals (ASSP) were on display with information about the Ergonomics and Safety Program and ways to get more involved with workplace safety.
Thanks to this year’s officers and members for a successful recruitment event!
SARVENAZ CHAEIBAKHSH – Successful PhD Defense
On November 30th Sarvenaz defended her dissertation, “REDUCING PATIENT FALL RISK VIA HOSPITAL ROOM LAYOUT OPTIMIZATION AND SENSORIZED INSOLE DATA”. Her work is supported by AHRQ grant (R18HS025606). Congratulations Sarvenaz!
IV Pole Redesign
A group of senior Mechanical Engineering students redesigned an IV pole for safer use by solving the problem of cord and tube management while making the IV pole more ergonomic. The project was advised by Professor Andrew Merryweather as part of the Capstone Course at the University of Utah. The new design provides better access for connecting pumps and accessories to the IV Pole, manages cords and tubing, and prevents tripping over the power cord using a creative magnetic breakaway plug.
Group Members: Hamam AlOraimi, Taylor Cook, Ricardo Nicolia, Ryan Wilcox, Austin Williams
Smart Insoles – Lifting Coach
Senior Mechanical Engineering students advised by Professor Andrew Merryweather showcased their work during Design Day. The purpose of the insoles is to quantify biomechanical loading to understand risk and reduce musculoskeletal injuries from material handling. I’m proud of the team’s accomplishments and their efforts on the project. You can read more about the project on their poster.
Project Team:
Zack Anderson
Tayt Cooper
Justin Starr
Taylor Van Roosendaal
Jacob Worthington
