City Tech’s Department of Mechanical Engineering & Industrial Design Technology has recently received STEM research grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), totaling more than $1.3 million in support. Students will work alongside faculty and collaborators on projects to design and fabricate medical devices as well as participate in space additive manufacturing and electron beam freeform fabrication.
In this three-year National Science Foundation-funded project students will gain hands-on experience in the design and fabrication of P&MD, which will expose them to career opportunities in the flourishing medical device industry. City Tech’s commitment to STEM education ensures that the heightened research emphasis opens up the scientific/engineering enterprise to students at a very early point in their academic careers, and draws upon the urban infrastructure available in New York City to expand opportunities for students and faculty research and collaboration with the STEM community.
Project partners include Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), Device Development Division; SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Musculoskeletal Research; and nonprofit organizations such as E-Nable the Future Program (ENFP), an online global community of volunteers who are using technology to create free 3D-printed prosthetic hands for those in need. City Tech students have already worked on many of the existing designs produced by ENFP such as the Cyborg Beast, Talon Hand, and Odysseus Hand, among others. Collaboration will be extended to work with neighboring hospitals and healthcare facilities in New York City.
Medical devices include surgical and medical instruments, surgical appliances and supplies, and dental equipment and supplies. Students will join one of the following teams: Design & Fabrication, Materials, K-12, Mechatronics, or Business and Dentistry. Students will also participate in a 3-week summer intensive training program as well as the Medical Device Conference, which will foster collaboration between City Tech, the medical device industry, and community and nonprofit organizations worldwide.
Co-principal investigators on these grants include Dr. Sidi Berri, chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Industrial Design Technology; Dr. Angran Xiao; Dr. Malek Brahimi; (New Horizons-NASA) Dr. Sidi Berri; Dr. Andy Zhang; Dr. Yu Wang; Professor Renata Budny; Dr. Subrata Saha, SUNY Downstate; Mr. Joseph Lipman, HSS; and Dr. Michael Grieves, Florida Institute of Technology (P&MD-NSF).
“These grants provide a wonderful opportunity for City Tech students and faculty to collaborate with other leaders in STEM education and research. They will be the seed for our Center of Additive Manufacturing and Medical Devices, which will promote design and fabrication of medical devices as well as partnerships between academia, industry, and community organizations,” said Dr. Gaffar Gailani, Department of Mechanical Engineering & Industrial Design Technology, principal investigator of both grants.
Image credit: New York City College of Technology
