Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Time: 4:00pm to 6:00pm

LOCATION: Massachusetts General Hospital
Richard B. Simches Research Center, Room 3110
185 Cambridge Street (located in Charles River Plaza next to Whole Foods Market and CVS)
Boston, MA 02114
- Click here for map and directions

Novel Engineering Initiatives: Fiber Optics for Xrays and Composite Materials

4:00PM Scintillating Nano-fibers for Ultra-high Definition X-ray Imaging
Rajiv Gupta, Director, VCT Lab and Assistant Radiologist, Department of Radiology, MGH

Theodore Morse, PhD, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, and Director, Laboratory for Lightwave Technology, Boston University Photonics Center

Moderator: Alex Slocum, PhD, Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering
MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT

The key objective of this development project is to improve the spatial resolution and the detective quantum efficiency (DQE) of X-ray detectors. Currently, the highest resolution of digital X-ray imaging systems is of the order of 25mm. At this spatial resolution, many pathologies are too small to be resolved. Increasing the spatial resolution to 1mm, while keeping the X-ray dose acceptable, would initiate a revolution in medical imaging; the clinical applications are innumerable. A new paradigm for spatial resolution and DQE improvement will be presented.

5:00PM Harvey Mudd College Student Project: Blast Armor Using Machine-Augmented Composite Materials

Nick Sherrow-Groves, Diego Gonzalez, Chris Lee, and Michael Martin, Engineering Majors, Harvey Mudd College Moderator: William P. Wiesmann, MD, President & CEO, BioSTAR Group

Current ceramic body armor is only effective against projectiles, such as shrapnel and bullets. With the increasing use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) in Iraq and Afghanistan, protection against the explosive blast wave itself has become an important issue. Blast waves can cause serious injuries, from pulmonary hemorrhage to progressive brain trauma. The Harvey Mudd CIMIT Clinic team was tasked with testing the feasibility of using machine augmented composites as blast armor, and optimizing their design to achieve the ideal blast mitigation. The samples developed by the Clinic team were tested extensively in a shock tube and were shown to mitigate blast by 9.5% in comparison to tests without a sample.

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Note: All are welcome to the weekly CIMIT Forum and there is no registration required to attend. For more information about the CIMIT Forum, contact DeAnna Grosbaum, CIMIT, 617-726-0797.