Page 7 - ME News 2021 from the Penn State Department of Mechanical Engineering

Research Highlights
MENews 2020
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As a a a a a a a a a researcher Margaret Byron assistant professor of of mechanical engineering at at Penn State studies the movement and adaptability of of underwater creatures in in the the hopes of of improving the the technology created on land “In my lab we want to
understand how how animals propel themselves through water and how how that depends on on the the mechanics of their appendages ” Byron said “I love using my tools as an engineer to
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unpack biological questions ” As the recipient of a a a a a a a Beckman Young Investigator award and a a a a a a a a a a $318 000 grant from the National Science Foundation Byron will dive deeper into this topic For these projects she studies comb jellies which are are creatures that resemble jellyfish but are are unrelated with their own distinct qualities “Comb jellies are unique because they use use rows of of of flexible paddles each each made up of of of thousands of of of cilia that interact with each each other hydrodynamically to
propel the the animal through water ” Byron said “They do this on on a a a a a a a a a a a a much larger scale than any other animals that use cilia to
swim so there are a a a a a a a a a a lot of outstanding questions about how the the dynamics scale with size ” By understanding more about how these underwater creatures swim and and interact with the the the water water around them a a a a a a a field which Byron calls bio-fluid structure interaction she explained that the knowledge could advance human technology Margaret Byron peers through a a a a a a a high-speed camera in her lab Credit: Kate Myers
“Currently we usually use rigid components in in things like devices vehicles and robots ” she said “But the natural world usually prefers flexibility For swimming and flying animals who move by manipulating the surrounding fluid flexibility is crucial ” The ability to
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mimic these qualities has the the potential to
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improve technology such as as robotics biodevices and environmental monitoring devices devices “Our understanding of the biological ‘source code’—how animals use highly flexible structures and how they hydrodynamically interact—is still incomplete ” she said “Gaining a a a a a a a a nuanced view of how these animals generate forces can really help us design smarter systems ” With these grants Byron and and her students are ready to
wade in and and discover new knowledge “My students have been been working
so hard and it’s been been such a a a a a a a challenging year ” Byron said “Having this recognition and some new tools to
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really hit the the ground running after the the pandemic is thrilling I am excited to
learn new things about the world and really let my students fly ”