This spring, we say a bittersweet goodbye to 11 incredible seniors who have each left their mark on our lab. Watching them grow as researchers and people has been one of the greatest privileges of this work. Phiphi Dinh , Yasmin Eltwafsha , and Shubhra Singhal were the first students to join the lab when...

On Friday, May 29th, we had the privilege of watching our students present at the University of California, Riverside's 2026 Senior Design Showcase, hosted by the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE). Each year, the showcase gives undergraduate engineering students the chance to present their capstone projects to the public, showing their ingenuity...

Congratulations to Andrea Bowling for achieving the Undergraduate Research Spotlight Award at the End of the Year BCOE Gala on May 23, 2026. Andrea earned the award for her research on "Shape Retention and Recovery in Shape Memory Polymer Foams: Implications for Aneurysm Treatment" where, through repeated compression tests, she examined the durability, shape retention...

Congratulations to Phiphi Dinh for achieving the Undergraduate Research Spotlight Award at the End of the Year BCOE Gala on May 23, 2026. Phiphi earned the award for her research titled "Development of an In-Vitro Image Velocimetry Flow Loop for Studying Cerebral Aneurysm Hemodynamics & Function" where she used Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to examine...

On Friday, April 24th 2026, three individuals and one group from our lab presented research at the Undergraduate Research Symposium. We are so proud of our members for their contributions and efforts towards their research. Phiphi Dinh presented about "Development of an In-Vitro Image Velocimetry Flow Loop for Studying Cerebral Aneurysm Hemodynamics & Function" where...

From April 13th to April 15th, undergraduate researchers from across the country gathered in Richmond, Virginia, for NCUR 2026. The conference featured hundreds of oral and poster presentations spanning engineering, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. Universities and research institutions also tabled throughout the event, offering students information about graduate programs, fellowships, and future...

This study explores how muscle force, pressure, and strain interact during active skeletal muscle contractions using in silico modeling. While pressure has often been used as a proxy for muscle force, the authors demonstrate its limitations due to boundary pressure relaxation. Instead, they identify strong correlations between force and principal, shear, and volumetric strains. The...

This study evaluates shape memory polymer (SMP) scaffolds designed for patient‑specific endovascular treatment of intracranial aneurysms. Using in‑vitro experiments, the authors characterize how scaffold formulation, porosity, and infill architecture influence key translational metrics, including glass transition behavior, catheter‑compatible compressibility, pulsatile compaction resistance, and shape recovery performance. The results show that SMP scaffolds can be tuned...

Congratulations to Tanner for placing first in The University of Oklahoma's 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition, explaining his research on "Shape Memory Polymer Scaffolds with Tunable Architecture for the Endovascular Treatment of Cerebral Aneurysms." Tanner will represent the University of Oklahoma in the 82nd Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools regional Three Minute Thesis competition in...

This study, titled ' State-space formulations to understand the nonlinear viscoelastic mechanical behavior of tricuspid valve chordae tendineae," investigates the complex mechanical behavior of tricuspid valve chordae tendineae using state-space representations of nonlinear viscoelastic models. By capturing time-dependent and nonlinear stress-strain relationships, the authors provide a framework for simulating chordae dynamics under physiological loading. This...

Their study, titled " ValveFit : An analysis-suitable B-spline-based surface fitting framework for patient-specific modeling of tricuspid valves," introduces ValveFit, a computational framework designed to generate smooth, analysis-ready B-spline surfaces for modeling tricuspid heart valves. The method enables accurate, patient-specific reconstructions from imaging data, improving the fidelity of biomechanical simulations used in clinical assessments. By...

Congratulations to Dr. Lee and Collaborators from Lehigh University (Dr. Jihong Wang and Dr. Yue Yu) and University of Arkansas (Dr. William Richardson) on their recent conference paper at the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP)! Their paper, “ A Physics-Guided Smoothing Method For Material Modeling With Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Measurements,” introduces...

On Friday, August 15, Tiffany and Shubi presented their research at the 2025 MSRIP Conference hosted at UC Riverside. This full-day event brought together undergraduate researchers, graduate students, and faculty to share projects and exchange ideas. Tiffany presented her poster, “Tricuspid Valve Simulation Applied Through the Right Heart Simulator,” highlighting how simulation-based approaches can improve...

We are proud to share that Tiffany was awarded the Maria Franco-Gallardo Excellence Award at the 2025 MSRIP Conference, recognizing her poster as the best in the conference. Her project, “Tricuspid Valve Simulation Applied Through the Right Heart Simulator,” stood out for its innovation, clarity, and potential impact on understanding cardiac valve function. The award...

We are proud to celebrate Sofia (right, front row), Aidan (right, back row), and Oliver (left, back row) for successfully completing their five-week STRIDE internship with the Biomechanics and Biomaterials Design Laboratory (BBDL) at UCR. During the program, they conducted hands-on research on critical topics including heart valve mechanics, mesh independence studies, and histological analysis...

Congratulations to Tanner and Collaborators from Purdue (Dr. Hyowon Lee) and Indiana University School of Medicine (Dr. Bradley Bohnstedt) on their recent publication in Annals of Biomedical Engineering! Their paper, “Towards the Intravascular Delivery of 3D-printed Leached SMP for Endovascular Treatment of Intracranial Aneurysm,” introduces a new approach to treating aneurysms using 3D-printed shape memory...

Congratulations to Maedeh, Zach, Shubi, and Yasmin on their recent publication in Frontiers of Bioengineering and Biotechnology. Their paper "Evaluation of the effects of clearing agents, fixation, and process durations on cardiovascular tissue imaging with second harmonic generation and multi-photon modalities," explores how sample preparation methods influence advanced imaging outcomes in cardiovascular tissues. By systematically...

Congratulations to Dr. Colton Ross and UG student Mr. Michael Burkhart in collaboration with Dr. Li-Wei Liu at National Taiwan University on the recent publication in Applied Mathematical Modeling! Their paper, “State-space formulations to understand the nonlinear mechanical behavior of the tricuspid valve chordae tendineae,” introduces a novel state-space modeling framework to better characterize chordae...

Shubi and Yasmin presented their research at UCR’s Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities Symposium, representing the BBDL. Their project, “Evaluation of the Effects of Clearing Agents, Fixation, and Process Durations on Cardiovascular Tissue Imaging,” explored how different tissue preparation techniques impact autofluorescence and second harmonic generation signals during multi-photon imaging. Their findings support the use...

The team including our lab members Phiphi and Yasmin developed the Biomechanical Alignment eXosystem, a wearable device designed to help improve poor posture via auditorial and physical reminders. They successfully won fourth place among over 40 teams at the school's only make-a-thon competition!