Three undergraduate engineering students took their research from the School of Engineering to a national stage this fall, at the 2021 Biomedical Engineering Society Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

Chizimuzo Chibuko ’22, Jenna Madigan ’22, and Stephanie Rodgers ’23 were given the unique opportunity to present original research to a national audience of industry and academic professionals and leaders. The students participated in the poster presentations with research they conducted under the supervision of assistant professor of biomedical engineering Isaac Macwan, PhD.

Fairfield junior Stephanie Rodgers presented original research conducted over the summer at the University of Alabama, as part of a research experience for undergraduate students (NSF REU), which focused on identifying frequency bands of interest to support automated identification of swallowing activities in sEMG (surface electromyography) datasets. Commenting on her overall conference experience, she said, “My biggest takeaway from the conference is how much great work is being done out there to advance healthcare and serve people. It reminded me how exciting this field is, and the impact we can have for so many people.”

Jenna Madigan presented her research, “The Onset of Mismatch Repair by the Human Mismatch Repair Protein, MutSbeta,” which examined the role that MutSbeta plays in identifying DNA errors, which when left unfound, can lead to Lynch Syndrome and colorectal cancer. Reflecting on her time in Orlando, Madigan noted, “My biggest takeaway from the conference was that the power of young minds will be instrumental in the future of biomedical engineering. The innovation was so exciting to see and be a part of, and I hope to be able to return in the future!”

Chizimuzo Chibuko presented “The Computational Approach to Understanding LAT1 and Gabapentin.” Her research was conducted with Tanmay Mehta, a student from Cornell University, under the guidance of Dr. Macwan.

In addition to presenting their research, students throughout the conference had the ability to meet representatives from biomedical engineering schools. There were presentations from students and professionals from the biomedical industry as well as other disciplines like biochemistry.

Chibuko said, “It was great to be at the center of so many new and innovative technologies and research. I talked to some PhD students from different schools and was exposed to some of the new and upcoming discoveries in the medical engineering world. I also got to interact with new people from different schools and gained some new insights on possible [future] projects.”