Tessa Gilmore, MSE Senior, awarded at 26th Annual Denman Undergraduate Research Forum for work on wearable electronics
Amidst scores of Buckeye undergrads presenting novel research at the 26th annual Richard J. and Martha D. Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, Tessa Gilmore stood out for her presentation on smart fabric, more specifically the process that produces a substrate with intelligent responses and immeasurable impact. A summit for most graduating seniors, the annual event spans five days and offers presentations in 21 categories ranging from social justice and activism to physics. Miss Gilmore's research, titled "Electrospinning polymers for wearable electronics", aligned with the Innovations in Technology, Mathematics and Physics theme.
“Our research has developed an electrospinning process capable of creating both uniaxial and randomly oriented fibers at a high throughput rate. This innovative procedure has the potential to increase fiber production for commercial applications, meaning smart fabrics will be lighter and more versatile than what is on the market today,” explains senior MSE student and Denman winner, Tessa Gilmore.
Smart fabrics combine regular fabric with materials embedded with smart sensing capabilities. Uses for smart fabrics include wound care, filtration and biosensors. Traditional smart fabrics are typically heavy, bulky and uncomfortable due to the use of metals for sensing and electrical connections. However, a novel electrospinning process developed by Gilmore in Professor Gouma’s lab may offer a way to use polymers to mitigate issues common in traditional smart fabrics. Electrospinning is the process of electrostatic drawing of fibers from a solution or melt. It has been a key technology for processing nanostructured materials of all kinds.
Common to most students presenting at the Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, the content and delivery of research must appeal to an audience that is not fluent in, or remotely familiar with, the subject.
“The presentation was a learning experience in that I needed to take a very specialized area of materials science and engineering and make it accessible to a broad, highly educated audience. The innovative piece to this research is the process and not the quantitative results, which was a departure from the other presentations.”
Tessa is proud to be recognized for the work she presented at this year’s Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, which is shared by Tessa's mentor, Dr. Gouma.
“I am really very proud of Tessa’s work and her award at this year’s Denman Undergraduate Research Forum, which recognizes the innovation of her research. Engaging undergraduate students in engineering research through capstone- type projects and research internships enables them to experience first-hand how materials science and engineering can shape the future of our world.
The inventiveness of our students is amazing, and Tessa’s work is a manifestation of utilizing innovative thinking to create advanced one-of-a-kind tools for the manufacturing of smart fabrics.”
– Perena Gouma, Ph.D. Edward Orton Chair in Ceramic Engineering and Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering congratulates Tessa Gilmore and Dr. Perena Gouma for their research on a forward-thinking smart fabric fabrication process yielding a possible replacement or alternative to modern-day options.
Libby Culley, Communications, Department of Materials Science and Engineering culley.36@osu.edu
