Biomechanics on our Minds

BOOM is happy to support National Biomechanics Day! During NBD, we introduce biomechanics to young people around the world. NBD introduced Biomechanics to over 29,000 highschool students between 2016 to 2019. Let’s add to that total IN A BIG WAY in 2020! In this episode, we talk to the founder of National Biomechanics Day, Paul Devita, to learn what NBD 2020 has in store for us and how to get involved! Join the movement to make Biomechanics the Breakthrough Science of the 21st Century! Learn more and register here: http://thebiomechanicsinitiative.org/registration/

At the University of Sao Paulo, Postdoctoral Fellow, Ricky Watari, has a fun conversation with Professor Isabel Sacco about the upcoming International Foot and Ankle Biomechanics (i-FAB) Meeting. The meeting this year takes place in São Paulo, Brazil on April 5-8. Learn more about the beginning of iFAB, this year's amazing program, and all the benefits for students attending! Follow i-FAB on Social Media: instagram: @ifab2020 facebook: ifab2020 twitter: @sbbiomech www.ifab2020.com #fabman #ifab2020

In this episode, we have the pleasure of talking with the International Society of Biomechanics President, Toni Arndt. He shares the latest initiatives for internationalizing biomechanics and his 5 I's of a good researcher.

In this episode, Priyanka Aggarwal, a physical therapist with a Masters in Musculoskeletal disorders, learns how her background as a Physical therapist, as well as other areas, can transfer into the space of Biomechanics. To help answer that question, and many others, she speaks with Professor Rajiv Ranganathan, Assistant Professor in Kinesiology and Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University, and Fraje Watson, Ph.D. student at UCL, London.

In this episode, we had the pleasure of talking with Nachi Chockalingam, Professor of Clinical Biomechanics and Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine at Staffordshire University in Staffordshire, England. He shares his research on musculoskeletal biomechanics and gait analysis with special interests in scoliosis, foot and footwear biomechanics. We also cover his contributions to regulations and standards in medicine, including the World Health Organization's global standards for prosthetics and orthotics. We appreciate his insight on how we can keep the global impact of our research in mind! Special thank you to Tekscan (https://www.tekscan.com/) for introducing us to Nachi!

In this episode, we interview Professor Chris Haas, Associate Provost and Professor at the University of Florida. He talks about his research on the interplay between the nervous system and the musculoskeletal system, including Parkinson's, and the importance of keeping your research patient-centered. Then we talk with Candace Gaudiani who shares her story with Parkinson's and her incredible outlook on the disease and life. Finally, we talk with doctoral student Caitlyn Kirby who wore a skirt made of rejection letters to defend her dissertation!

PhD Students Nick Bianco and Chris Dembia give us the low down on OpenSim Moco! Moco solves optimal control problems with musculoskeletal models defined in OpenSim, using direct collocation. We learn how it works and new problems we can now solve with it. They also share their experience developing a software toolkit, including insights into what it is like to work on it as a team and how it has fit in the scope of their PhD.

In this episode, Andrew Vigotsky, Biomedical Engineering PhD candidate at Northwestern University takes us through some common mechanical misconceptions in bioengineering and how we can avoid them.

In this incredibly inspiring episode, two amazing athletes, Blake Leeper and Lasse Madsen talk about their stories - Blake is a world record holder in the Paralympics with a goal to compete in the 2020 Olympics and Lasse is a gymnast, athlete, author, and amputee. Watch Blake's video, Let Leeper Run here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4PTYR5GRA8 Check out Lasse's website here: https://www.landingonmyfeet.dk/

How do we make science journals accessible to everyone? In this episode, PhD student Ricky Pimentel and Roger Paxton, Research Project Manager at Children's Hospital Colorado, interview a pioneer of open access for science, Peter Suber. They talk about the beginning, current barriers, and the future of open access.