Category: Year in Review

Recently, we saw a very cool X/Twitter post [link] featuring a Gantt chart of people that had been in the PI’s lab over the years. We, of course, decided that we needed one too! As of the end of summer 2024, here’s the history of OML (click to open larger image in new tab).

Steph put the chart together in Excel and explained how she she did in her tweet.

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In 2019, we did more fun and amazing stuff!

• Nicholas graduated!
• Jacque and Steph won Wake County Volunteer Awards for all the work they’ve done with Athens Drive High School
• Three of our undergrads were recognized as Abrams Scholars
• We went to ORS
• Stephanie presented National Biomechanics Day data and got a paper out! (technically the paper was 2020, but we’re putting it here anyway)
• Emily and Hannah presented at UNC’s Human Movement Science Symposium
• We did lots of outreach, including National Biomechanics Day and a visit from students in the Catalyst program.

Our lab picture is from April but, in our defense, we’ve been busy!

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2018 was another exciting year in the Orthopaedic Mechanobiology Lab:

• Jacque was named a World Changer and spearheaded efforts to get a nano-CT system for NC State!
• We had our first AND second doctoral student finish up. Hui defended in February and officially graduated in May, then Jon defended in October (on Halloween!) and graduated in December. Congratulations Drs. Cong and Doering!
• We had National Biomechanics Day and won some awards
• We went to the World Congress of Biomechanics in Dublin

Our undergrads were amazing, as usual:

• Five of them were named Abrams Scholars!
• Sophie won BME Undergrad of the month
• Hannah, Sophie, and Maggie presented at the National Conference on Undergrad research in April
• Maggie’s presentation at the Undergrad Research Symposium in April was named as one of the most outstanding presentations
• Maggie and Carly presented at the summer Undergrad Research Symposium in July
• Josh and Carly presented at SNCURS in November

Lab Photo: (Technically from April 2019, oops!)

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Things continue to get more hectic in the OML! We now have 4 grad students plus 7 undergrads, which keeps us pretty busy.

Some highlights from 2017:

• Jacque was awarded a Junior Faculty Research Award!
• Stephanie was given the Award for Excellence by the University!
• Our undergrads continued to be rock stars! They presented their work at the National Conference for Undergraduate Research, the NC State Undergrad Research Symposium, got some research grants, and were named Abrams Scholars. 
• We participated in numerous outreach events, including SciREN, Bits & Bytes, and National Biomechanics Day (and won an award!).
• Nicholas passed his prelim.

We took our annual group photo, and this time included honorary lab member Jack Morrow. (And thanks to Emily for breaking up our otherwise monochromatic color palette)

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Once again it’s been exciting here in OML! Please scroll through our posts to see everything we’ve had going on.

Some highlights:

• Jacque and Nicholas went to Belgium to talk about the influence of exercise and diet on blood perfusion.
• We participated in the first annual National Biomechanics Day!
• We once again partnered with The Engineering Place to teach middle school students about bone repair.
• Andy gave a podium talk at ORS.
• Jon, Hui, and Carolyn all passed their prelims!
• Austin, Amir, and Chris graduated!

We took another group photo (and all accidentally wore shades of blue/green or gray/black). We swear we didn’t coordinate outfits that morning!

Here’s to a great 2017!

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The OML continued to grow in 2015. We did some great research, gave some awe-spiring presentations, and added a few new lab members!

• April:
  • Carolyn Stolfi presented her research at the Human Movement Science and Biomechanics Research Symposium at UNC.
• May:
  • Congratulations to Kyle and Curtis, who both graduated! Curtis graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering and Kyle with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering (Honors) and Mechanical Engineering
• June:
  • Jon Doering joined the lab as a graduate student researcher. He is co-mentored by Greg Sawicki
  • OML presented to the Imhotep Academy, a group of middle schoolers interested in STEM. Check it out!
• August:
  • Jacque gave an invited talk on stroke research at the 5th Annual Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences Training Day at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, IL
  • Jon presented a podium talk of his research at the American Society of Biomechanics conference in Colombus, OH.
  • Carolyn presented a poster detailing her research at the American Society of Biomechanics conference in Colombus, OH. 
• September:
  • The OML participated in SciREN. Check out some photos of us in action!
  • Elizabeth Easter joined the lab and was awarded an NC State Office of Undergraduate Research grant for her project studying the changes in bone blood flow using Laser Doppler Flowmetry.
  • Austin Murray was one of three students selected as an Abrams Scholar. This is his second year to be given the award!
  • Harsha Pinnamaraju joined the lab as an undergraduate research assistant, and was selected as an Abrams Scholar.
• October:
  • Nicholas Hanne, Amir Robe, and Andy Steward all presented posters at the Southeast Biomedical Engineering Society Regional Conference in Raleigh, NC
  • Andy Steward presented a poster at the 17th Annual Conference of the North Carolina Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Society (NCTERMS) in Winston Salem, NC
  • Jacque teamed up with Dr. Simon Roe from the NC State Vet School to give a presentation to local high school students as part of the NC State Engineering Bits and Bytes day.  Of course we also took plenty of pictures! 
• November:
  • OML joined the Science Explorers Club at Dillard Drive Middle School to talk about bone function and development. Many thanks to Joann Blumenfeld, whom we met through SciREN, for inviting us.

Also this year:

• Dr. Cole became Co-Investigator on a grant from the William R. Kenan Jr. Institute for Engineering, Technology, and Science
• The OML receives a seed grant from the UNC/NCSU Rehabilitation Engineering Core for the neonatal brachial plexus injury project (Dr. Cole is co-PI with Dr. Kate Saul and Dr. Ted Bateman)
• Dr. Cole was awarded a K12 grant through the Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Engineering Research Career Development Program (IREK12) for the stroke project

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2014 was a big year for the OML! The year began with Jacque having her son, Theo, in January. Other notable events include Nicholas Hanne and Carolyn Stolfi joining the lab as graduate research assistants, Curtis Hudson, Austin Murray and Amir Robe joining as undergraduate research assistants, and Dr. Andy Steward joining as a postodoctoral research scholar.

Congratulations to Austin Murray, who was selected as an Abrams Scholar in the BME Department!

Congratulations also to Jacque, who was selected to participate in the ORS/OREF/AAOS New Investigator Workshop for Clinical, Translational, and Basic Science Research in Chicago, IL (16-17 May). In addition, Jacque became Co-Investigator on a grant from the NCSU Research Innovation Seed Funding (RISF) Program

Our rapidly-growing lab group

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2013 marks the founding of the OML. In August, Jacque joined the faculty at NC State. Later that year, Stephanie joined as Lab Manager Extraordinaire. Kyle and Hui also joined the labs.