Engineering-Other(59) This project is integrating the use of a micro-computed tomography system into the bioengineering curriculum at Union College. This technology and the educational materials have been adapted from graduate education programs at a number of institutions including the University of Iowa, the University of Michigan, the University of Southern California, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Nebraska. Material microstructure-property-function relationships are being explored using bone as the target material. The project is developing laboratory modules for two undergraduate courses: (1) a lower-level course, accessible to students from the general population, designed to foster interdisciplinary thinking and to excite students with the possibilities in bioengineering, and (2) an upper-level course, accessible to students in the physical sciences and mechanical engineering, that focuses on the modeling of the mechanical behavior of biologic tissues and how the modeling and behavior is influenced by tissue structure and function. The laboratory modules are instructing students in the basic physics of radiography and its practical application, and the analysis of bone tissue microstructure and its relation to properties and function. Assessment is being interwoven throughout each phase and consists of detailed student surveys and assessment by external consultants. The intellectual merit of this project is to advance the knowledge of students in an interdisciplinary manner. The broader impacts of this project are that it addresses the widely-held belief that the next important breakthroughs and discoveries will most likely be at the intersection of disciplines, as represented by bioengineering.
