Bioengineering students showcase breathing simulator at Student Symposium, WLBZ reports
WLBZ (Channel 2) spoke with four University of Maine bioengineering students at the UMaine Student Symposium in Bangor. The group was among the more than 1,200 UMaine students who were set to showcase their research and work at the Cross Insurance Center. More than 400 exhibits are on display for the general public throughout Monday, April 24. One of the exhibits is a unique device to simulate abdominal breathing patterns in infants, WLBZ reported. For their bioengineering senior capstone design project, the students were tasked with creating a pediatric breathing simulator capable of displaying realistic lung and diaphragm movements, that can move independently from each other. “This is how engineering starts,” said bioengineering professor Caitlin Howell, who advised the group. “We take small things, we take things that we have lying around, and we put them together and say ‘Can our concept work?’ And these students have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that ‘Yes, our concept can work.’” The group said their device is unique in the medical simulation field, and they now are seeking a patent, according to WLBZ. “By having this device have the ability to simulate those abdominal breathing patterns, it adds that higher degree of realism which creates better physicians for better health care in the future,” said UMaine student Banton Heithoff, who worked on the project. WABI (Channel 5) also interviewed the students and Howell about the project.