About Me: I teach Physics and Introduction to Engineering Design at Leominster High School and have been teaching close to 17 years now. I love getting to interact with people and make them laugh, especially when they are learning science. I love doing experiments and demos and seeing people with smiles on their faces when they leave the class. I am a dad to two wonderful boys, Luca (5) and Julian (1) and husband to my lovely wife Meagan. We love swimming in the pool, camping with our family, and going on trips whenever we can. In a former, pre-kid life, I used to be involved in scuba diving, snowboarding, and jiu jitsu and hope to someday enjoy those activities again vicariously through my kids.

About the Lab: My lab is in Atwater Kent Laboratories which is where the Electrical and Computer Engineering department is located. For this project, I am mainly working in the Integrated Circuits and Systems Lab upstairs in room 315. This lab’s main research focus includes Smart Health Applications, Implantables and Wearables, Sensor Interfaces, Neural Interfaces, RF-Energy Harvesting, Wireless Power and Data Transfer, Power Management IC, Biomedical Security, and Low Power Analog/Mixed Signal IC Design.

 

Project Title: Development of Miniaturized Noninvasive Blood Gas Monitors

Weekly Updates:

• Week 1:
  • I started by doing background research on the device the lab is using and read a few of the papers written by the professor and her team. I also created presentations for each paper.
  • I was shown the basics of setting up and running the lab.
  • Most of this week was getting caught up to speed with the program, the device, and how my lab works.

 

• Week 2:
  • I have started running data collection for the lab and that is now what I focus most of my time on. In between tests I am still reading some background material on the device, how it’s affected by temperature, and how this effect is currently being compensated for.
  • For the data collection I am gathering the tau life (life span) of the luminophores in our luminescence test film. We do this by placing the sensor into a glass, gas chamber and filling the chamber with a mixture of nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) and then shining an LED light on the film which then excites the luminophores. When the luminophores return to their original state they release photons which are then recorded which allows us to measure the amount of time they spend in the excited state or their lifespan.
  • We had previously run a series of tests on a different set-up but found the results to be unsuitable. This was most likely due to leakage and the length of time it took to fill the chamber with gas.
  • I will be testing the tau life for various percentages of oxygen, O2. These percentages are: 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10%, 13%, 16%, 19%, and 22%.
  • I have completed running data for my ten oxygen percentages, however, there was some unexpected results so I will be running the last five tests again.
  • We got to tour the fire safety lab this Friday which was a very interesting and enjoyable tour. They have a very cool setup and have a ton of great research coming out of the program. Definitely one I will be telling my students about.

 

• Week 3:
  • I finished up my first round of data collection and prepared a report for the professor.
  • I’ve started running data collection for a different film. This round of testing will probably run into the first week. It is collecting the same data as previously was being collected.
  • I’ve started to work on creating a lesson plan I can bring back to my high schoolers based on what I have been doing in the lab and the project we are working on.
  • I was able to finish the testing on two films and come up with exponential equations to fit the data. My next task is to find a way to calibrate the two data sets so that they fit on the same curve.

 

• Week 4:
  • This week I was able to finish my testing on the last film. I am now working on combining all the data into various graphs. I’m also working on fitting an exponential curve to the data and then linearizing it with a logarithmic function. This will help the lab calibrate future films so that regardless of the film the sensor will be yielding consistent and accurate results. I missed the lab tour last Friday so today I got an individual tour at Practice Point and then met the RET group at Via for lunch which was very nice and then we headed back to campus to do the regular Friday Lab tour. It was a nice Friday but it also seems like the program is close to wrapping up. Can’t believe it has gone by so fast. I now need to work on my presentation poster and finalizing my results of the work I’ve been doing.

 

• Week 5:
  • The program has gone by so fast and I can’t believe we’re almost done. I’ve gotten enough data to put together my poster and got great feedback from the people in my team and have incorporated it all and passed in my final product. I have really enjoyed this whole program, getting to know the directors and people going through the program, my lab group, the lab tours, and just the experience of working in a lab. I am going to miss this experience and very thankful for the opportunity.

 

• Week 6:
  • This week flew by. I finished up collecting any data I could and it felt like the rest of the week was rehearsing, meetings, or going on tours and then all of a sudden I was presenting my final poster. I had a lot of fun going to Coe’s reservoir, seeing my colleague’s labs and hearing about their research, and enjoying our last week together. It was such an enjoyable experience to not only learn about and be a part of some very important research, but I feel like so much I’ve learned will make me a better teacher. I have learned a lot from my time here and met so many great people.

My Final Poster: Sheehan_James_RET_Poster Final