Teaching

ME178: Designing for the Human Body

Dr. O’Connell developed a course focused on devices that interact with the body, from prostheses to wearables. Students learn about the design processes through multiple team projects throughout the semester. Topics covered include ‘the body as a machine’, the function of the musculoskeletal, neurological, and cardiovascular systems, design criteria behind protective products and external prosthetics, measuring body behavior through sensors (e.g., muscle activity and heart rate), and the future of health care through wearable technology.

The design education approach used in this class was featured in the 2017 Fall UC Berkeley College of Engineering Magazine.

This course is offered every fall in the Jacobs Design Institute.

ME214: Advanced Tissue Mechanics

This graduate level course focuses on using constitutive mechanics for describing mechanics of biological materials, including cells and tissues. The goal of this course is to provide a foundation for long-term learning, research, and applications related to the mechanical behavior of load-bearing biological tissues. A variety of mechanics topics will be introduced, including anisotropic elasticity and failure, cellular solid micro-mechanical theory, biphasic theory, and quasilinear viscoelasticity (QLV) theory. Building from this theoretical basis, we will explore the constitutive behavior of a wide variety of biological tissues through a series of student-led class lectures on applications. As a course project, students will prepare a research proposal addressing some mechanical aspect of a tissue of their choice. Peer review of these proposals will further develop critical thinking. After taking this course, students should have sufficient background to independently study the mechanical behavior of any biological tissue.

This course is offered every other Spring semester.

Additional Courses Taught

E7: Introduction to Matlab Programming for Engineers
ME108: Mechanical Behavior of Engineering Materials