Research Projects by Current Engineering Technology Faculty

MTSU recently achieved R2 status (read here) for its high level of research activity.  Below is our current faculty's research interests.  We highly encourage all students to talk to their instructors and get involved with research.

 

Dr. Misa Faezipour

Health Systems Engineering: Enhancing and improving healthcare and health quality, effectiveness, and logistics through systems engineering methodologies, optimization, and machine learning.

Blending System Dynamics and Machine Learning to Investigate the Influence of Social Determinants of Health on Chronic Diseases in Minority Populations 

The project aims to develop a simulation model that depicts the interaction between SDOH, chronic diseases, and health inequalities. This model will analyze how various programs, policies, and interventions may affect these interactions. To examine how SDOH affects chronic diseases in minority communities, this study will employ Vensim and PySD. The study expects to offer valuable of the underlying factors that contribute to health inequalities and guide the creation of more suitable methods for reducing these gaps and improving minority populations' health outcomes. 

 

Elissa Ledoux

OrthoHand – Powered Hand Exoskeleton

Stroke affects millions of people across the globe every year, particularly the elderly. In the US alone, nearly 800,000 victims suffer strokes annually, and approximately 228,000 survivors have mild to severe upper limb impairment. During the stroke, a part of the brain either dies and loses connection to the rest of the body. This can lead to lack of hand control, including difficulties grasping and opening, and instability. This is a debilitating, life-changing event that leaves patients dependent on others for even the most basic tasks. Over time, their struggles compound, resulting in fatigue, frustration, and a host of additional problems.

To help mitigate these issues, many patients receive assistive devices such as splints, but current technology is inadequate. The standard passive devices come in limited sizes and either prevent motion or constrain the hand to move unnaturally. A few powered orthoses exist on the market for at-home use, but these tend to be large, bulky, and expensive. Furthermore, many devices are difficult to don and/or uncomfortable and abrasive due to rigidity, further deterring patients and even some providers from use.

A powered hand orthosis could mitigate these issues and help patients to regain or maintain their independence, as well as prevent hand contractures. Elissa Ledoux’s research team is developing an active, soft robotic hand orthosis (exoskeleton) to help neurologically impaired patients reduce hand spasticity and regain or maintain their independence, and reduce hands-on time for caregivers and therapists. First, she analyzed anatomical data to determine relationships between hand length and width and individual joint and bone positions. Then using these determined relationships, she developed a smart software program to instantly generate custom sized part files based on these two measurements. These files can be rapidly 3D printed, reducing the need for a skilled orthosis technician with the associated time, cost and labor. The current prototype, pictured below, provides dual functionality for both therapeutic stretching and assistive grasping, to help stroke survivors experiencing either spasticity or flaccidity, respectively. This software program and the related technology could revolutionize the orthotics industry, making assistive devices more accessible to patients and enabling them to regain their independence.

This research was funded by grants from the NSF I-Corps program (2021) and Vanderbilt Wond’ry Ideator program (2020)

Exoskeleton Development Cycle   Hand Stretching Cycle   Hand Grasping Bottle

 

Dr. Lei Miao

Intelligent Transportation Systems

Projects include using Reinforcement Learning (RL) to assist parking, help pedestrian navigate, guide Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs), and optimize traffic signals.

Wireless Networks Optimization and Performance Enhancements

Projects include using RL, sample path analysis, and game theory to improve the efficiency and security of wireless networks.

Internet of Things and Smart Cities

Projects include using wireless networks and embedded systems to improve the well-being of humans. Sample projects: wireless indoor localization and fall detection robots for seniors.

Optimization for Discrete Event Dynamic Systems

Projects include using sample analysis techniques to optimize manufacturing systems with real-time constraints.

Engineering Education

Projects include using project-based learning and hands-on activities to promote students’ interests in engineering.

More details of Dr. Miao’s research and recent publications can be found at: https://capone.mtsu.edu/leimiao

 

Dr. Mina Mohebbi

Industrial Symbiosis and Sustainable Materials

The focus of this project is to develop multi-aspect environmental impact assessment framework, which paves the path for optimizing beneficial uses of industrial byproducts in commercial scenarios. The high volume of secondary materials from industrial processes (e.g., coal combustion), and their promising physical and chemical characteristics motivate the beneficial uses (e.g., waste to energy, land reclamation, and supplementary cementitious material in concrete). As examples of research efforts in this area, we investigated the thermochemical and kinetic properties of grape juice processing byproducts as an energy source for the food industry. Also, 1-dimensional reactive transport model was developed to predict the long-term release of trace elements from coal combustion fly ash.

Sustainable Industrial SymbiosisSustainable Industrial Symbiosis

Food Waste Management and Microplastics

Diversion of food waste from landfills to composting and anaerobic digestion (AD) reduces the methane emissions and recover valuable energy and nutrients. However, the presence of plastic in the food waste streams has been an emerging concern. Plastic in food waste can be found in the form of fragments and films of varying size that originate from packaging, containers, bags, and produce stickers. The effect of microplastic contamination on greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions levels during composting and methane yield from anaerobic digestion is the focus of this project. We evaluate the effect of MPs concentration, particle size, common types of polymer in food waste, and leaching of toxic chemicals on the microorganisms activity and biogas generation.

Anaerobic digestion of food waste with gas collection set-up (top) and Plastic particles from food packaging (bottom)

Anaerobic digestion of food waste with gas collection set-up (top) and Plastic particles from food packaging (bottom)

 

Dr. Jorge Vargas

Development of a sensor testbed for autonomous vehicles (AVs)

A Simulink model on a host computer works in conjunction with a Real-Time Target Machine (RTTM) to make decisions to the control unit through an unreal engine based on real and simulated scenarios.

An AV will be deployed as a sensor testbed to carry out our hardware-in-the-loop system. Using a very similar process, a motion simulator can be paired with MATLAB to enable testing in a virtual environment. The implementation of both projects enables a variety of AV research topics to be conducted at MTSU. Incorporating real and virtual simulations enable verification of the efficacy of AV driving functions.