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Last summer, Kaydence Cowley ’07 (Littleton, Colo.) interned at the Orthopaedic Biomechanics Labs at University of Colorado, where she conducted studies to test the accuracy of different surgical navigation devices that are used during joint replacement surgery.
This research has led her to numerous new opportunities including a presentation at the Orthopaedic Research Society, another job at the lab this summer, a topic for her upcoming honors thesis work, and a solid grasp on her career goals.
Throughout her research, Cowley, a mechanical engineering major with a biomedical engineering minor, tested the surgical navigation devices, which are computer based programs used in operating rooms to help guide the surgeon’s tools and make for better alignment and placement of the implant. She stresses the importance of this research in every day life.
“As they are being more widely used, it is increasingly important for surgeons and researchers alike to understand the accuracy of the equipment they are working with,” she says.
Cowley was invited to present this work at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Othropaedic Research Society in Chicago in March, where her paper was well received.
“This was an amazing experience. Not only was I able to present my own paper, but it gave me the opportunity to see the current research in the biomedical engineering field, as well as meet and talk with professors and surgeons,” she says.
Not only did she earn praise for last summer’s research, but Cowley was asked to come back to the lab this summer to continue researching and expanding the current literature on the accuracy of this type of navigation system. She will also be using her knowledge this fall, when she begins her honors thesis work with Jeff Helm, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. Cowley and Helm will be using Digital Image Correlation to study the stress strain propagation in bovine aorta.
After Lafayette, Cowley plans to pursue graduate school and obtain a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, ideally moving into a research career or teaching at the college level.
Cowley is vice-president of Leap (the environmental group on campus), and a member of the McKelvy scholars program, the ultimate Frisbee team, the kayak club, and the Association for Lafayette Feminists (ALF).
As a national leader in undergraduate research, Lafayette sends one of the largest contingents to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research each year. Forty students were accepted to present their research at this year’s conference.