Fischell Institute Participates in Maryland Day

The Fischell Institute participated in Maryland Day, the University of Maryland’s largest annual community outreach event, last Saturday, April 27, 2024.

The institute was represented by Fischell Institute Fellow Chris Jewell’s research lab, Fischell Institute Fellow Reza Ghodssi’s MEMS Sensors and Actuators lab (MSAL), Fischell Fellow Catherine K. Kuo’s research lab, Affiliate Fellow Gregg Duncan’s Respiratory NanoBioengineering (RnB) lab, and Affiliate Fellow Elisabeth Smela’s MicroTechnologies lab.

The Jewell Lab featured family-friendly, hands-on engineering experiments using materials like baking soda and vinegar to create small explosions in a bag. This experiment taught children about gas laws, chemical reagents, and how dosing reagents can alter outcomes. The lab also demonstrated ice cream made using liquid nitrogen.

“Maryland Day is a great opportunity to connect with the community about the broader goals of bringing new medicines to patients,” said Jewell. “We’ve been serving the community for over a decade across many outreach efforts—this is always one of my favorites.”

The MSAL featured a 3D printer demonstration showcasing the construction of a miniaturized Eiffel Tower. Visitors also had the opportunity to hold a sample of the ingestible device developed by the lab.

“Visitors and children who came to MSAL truly enjoyed learning about our ingestible capsule technologies and microsystems,” said Brian Holt, an electrical and computer engineering graduate student and organizer of the lab’s Maryland Day activities. “Maryland Day is an excellent opportunity to increase public exposure to our work and spread awareness about research in our field.”

The Kuo Lab taught visitors about the functions and importance of tendons in the body. The lab, which develops regenerative therapeutics for tendon injuries and diseases, invited attendees to build a model hand using cardboard, straws, and colorful yarn. Each tendon (yarn) moved a finger as the tendon was pulled. Participants were invited to decorate their cardboard hands and take them home.

University of Maryland President Darryll Pines and A. James Clark School of Engineering Dean Samual Graham stopped by the Kuo lab station and commended the lab’s activities and creativity.

“STEM outreach has always been part of the Kuo Lab culture,” said Kuo. “While this was our first opportunity to host an activity at Maryland Day, we are excited to participate every year moving forward.”

Duncan’s Respiratory NanoBioengineering (RnB) Lab also participated in Maryland Day for the first time. The lab designed an activity creating model lungs out of balloons, cups, and straws, and prepared kits with the model lung materials for children to take and recreate at home. In addition, the lab made a spin-off of the Plinko game, where children played as influenza and had to hit either the pandemic or infection spaces to win.

“Engaging with the greater College Park community is a great opportunity for us,” said Duncan. “Our lab will definitely be back next year.”

Researchers working on the NSF-funded project Desiccatable living cell-based sensors hosted a “Name that Smell” game, where visitors could try to identify twelve different odors. Mechanical Engineering Professor Elisabeth Smela, Fischell Institute Fellow and Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Pamela Abshire, Science, Technology and Society Director David Tomblin and Affiliate Fellow and Biology Professor Ricardo Araneda guided guests through the game and discussed their idea for an artificial nose. The lab also displayed a poster on their research, as well as a board that challenged visitors to describe how they might use a hand-held odor identifier in their daily lives.

“It was wonderful to see people of all ages, even whole families—some competitively and some collaboratively—participating in our game nonstop throughout the day,” said Smela. “We were also surprised and delighted to see such strong interest, with lots of questions and suggestions for use, in our research on an artificial nose based on biological cells.”

The Fischell Institute looks forward to celebrating Maryland Day every year and engaging with the College Park community.

Published May 3, 2024