Gina Bertocci, professor and endowed chair of biomechanics in the bioengineering department, recently received a grant forĚý$599,876Ěýfrom the National Institute of Justice for research that could help detect child abuse in young children.

The research project is called, “Biomechanical characterization of video recorded short distance falls in children.” Its purpose is to provide forensic data that will help identify the causes of trauma in young children who may not be able to communicate instances of abuse. Bertocci’s research looks to even the field, not only serving to identify victims of physical abuse, but to aid parents who were wrongly accused.

“We know that falls do happen and those falls sometimes do produce injuries. We also know that the history of the fall is that the fall is the most commonly given excuse by caregivers to hide abuse,” Bertocci said. “We want to be able to intervene early for those kids who have been abused.”

Bertocci’s research into pediatric injury has evolved to delineate between abuse and accidents specific to falls, the most commonly attributed cause of injury in cases of suspected abuse.

For her newest research, Bertocci is working with a local daycare to capture, safely and with parental permission, video of children falling in a controlled environment. Ěý

“We use crash test dummies,” said Bertocci. “We have studies that are ongoing where we are working with clinicians working with children who have come into an ER setting, to better understand a lot of injuries associated with a fall.”

As part of that process, members of her team have selected a location that features a variety of surfaces, which can account for any potential differences upon impact, as well as mounted head cameras that can help identify the velocity of a fall from standing position. It’s through that data, along with several other factors, that Bertocci hopes to develop a database for future use in legal or criminal cases.

“There is an absence of evidence-based data, which has led to a controversy in biomechanical compatibility. Our goal is to improve the accuracy in forensic biomechanical compatibility,” Bertocci said. “In order to plug this gap, related to not having witnessed short distanced falls, how can we fill that gap? The one way is to video record kids in a natural setting. And to capture them in a natural environment, while they’re playing.”

Ultimately, this research allows Bertocci to help children without a voice, by providing reproducible evidence to a common problem in distinguishing abuse from an accident, which is often difficult to determine with children who are not only incapable of communication, but are still developing their basic motor skills.

“The children who are at greatest risk are those who are between 0-1 year old and they are not able to communicate,” said Bertocci.

Tyler is one of few professors to achieve 50-plus years of teaching service.

“I set a record every day,” he said. “And I’m probably far ahead of even the faculty that have been here for 50 years in terms of semesters, because Speed School is a yearly school.”

Tyler has taught a variety of courses throughout the years, beyond the introductory coursework that he currently teaches. Tyler has touched a lot of lives during his tenure, including some of his contemporaries in the Speed School such as former interim dean John Usher and Department of Engineering Fundamentals Chair Patricia Ralston.

“I entered Speed in the fall of 1975, and I clearly remember the classroom environment he created. All were encouraged to be dedicated, to be disciplined and to achieve. He showed us more respect than many of us had for ourselves. His obvious concern for students’ learning and success drew me to seek his counsel, and he continued to mentor me after I completed the mathematics sequence,” Ralston said.Ěý“He gave me advice that has served me life-long: ‘Stay focused on clearly defined goals, work steadily to achieve them, and continually re-evaluate to improve.’ He validated my own interest in teaching and convinced me to go to graduate school. He has been a motivating and inspiring force behind all I have been able to achieve at Speed School.”

Usher adds, “Larry Tyler is an engineering hero and living legend here at Speed School. He has positively impacted many thousands of students, including me way back in 1977, by being an amazing teacher and mentor. He still gets here early and works hard every day with energy and passion for engineering education that is truly inspiring.ĚýI am so glad to have had the chance to work with him and look forward to many more years.”

Tyler has achieved a number of accomplishments, including hosting a variety hour television series on local television, where he employed his engineering acumen to the then-nascent field of audio production. He was there at the inception and development of the Department of Engineering Fundamentals, a relatively unique program that focuses on engineering pedagogy, while reinforcing basics.

During his tenure, the world has undergone radical, if seemingly glacial changes, from the use of chalk and whiteboards, to in-class projectors and into the digital age. While the technology and methodology evolve with the times, the constituent student body remains relatively static. Via his role in Engineering Fundamentals, Tyler not only sees a majority of the students coming in, but is happy to help them transition into the grind.

“When they ask me if they ask me if the students are any better or worse now, I say no. Some of the differences I’ve noticed is that they’re in to computer games more and maybe less athletic. We didn’t have people going around with a computer in their face. The students haven’t gotten worse. ACT scores have improved, but I’m not sure they are a lot better than they were. We’re getting better students, but we’re also getting more students,” he said.Ěý

Since 1963, Tyler has worked continuously for three semesters per year, without even one sabbatical during that time frame. That singular dedication to his craft underscores a rigorous, and almost zen-like methodology that drives his passion to continue to grow and evolve his teaching.Ěý

“I learn something new every day. I’ve learned there are a lot of people smarter than I am coming through as students.” Tyler said. “I’ve probably learned how to convey concepts to students efficiently and certainly better. I’m better equipped now than when I started teaching of being able to convey concepts and trying to get students to learn those, relate to, and learn.”

For Tyler, there is no endgame in sight, other than to continue his work as an educator as long as he physically can.

“You’re always one dean or chair away from retirement.”ĚýTyler said. ” As long as my health is good, I’ll be here.”

Passionately Curious

Inspired by her uncle, who suffers from quadriplegia, Hendrick wanted to pursue a field of study that could help others like him to live better lives. Initially interested in pursuing medicine, Hendrick is uneasy with the sight of blood, but still wanted to do something that could positively impact the lives of others. No less committed to her vision, she has developed and pursued a passion in bioengineering.

“If doctor’s don’t have the tools that they need, they can’t do their job. That’s going back to the source of how I can make an impact. My uncle can’t even tie his own shoes. Seeing him, he loves technology. He’s one of the most technology advanced people in the household, so that he can write emails, and stay up with the news, even though he can barely use his hand. He uses his knuckle for the mouse. He has a lot of patience,” says Hendrick.

Her Story

Sponsored by the Tachau family, the contest encouraged students to consider the struggle of women in the workplace, and how those efforts continue to shape the world around us. Named for Dr. Mary K. Bonsteel Tachau, a chair in the History department, the first woman to hold the position of chair at the university, Hendrick’s essay attended to the difficulties posed to Tachau, and how she overcame them.

She says, “My essay talked about the work that she did. She wrote a ton of letters to different people in our state legislature at the time and worked with different groups to work mainly on gender equality as that related to higher education. Also looking at it as a more social issue across the board. It also talked about and how that relates to now. How the work that she did was really important, but not quite as intersectional as it could be.”

Intersectional feminism focuses on the experiences of women of all social stripe, regardless of race, ethnicity, or economic class, something that Hendrick focuses on in her time in Women 4 Women.

Part of the Women’s Center, she explains of the group that they are, “dedicated to increasing education mainly, awareness through different topics. We are affiliated with the Women’s Center. We utilize them for resources for different events.

Life After Graduation

Ideally, Hendrick hopes to work in a medical device, part of her continuing pursuit of helping others whenever possible. In the meantime, she stays especially busy in her various extracurricular activities.

“I don’t have a life. I do a lot. It’s not easy, but it’s been one of the most important things for me, because it gave me a community on campus that engaged with social justice issues. Not just for women, but for LGTBQ+, people of color… it’s been really useful to me. It was definitely something that I really wanted,” Hendrick said.

UofL’s Speed School of Engineering works with a variety of businesses in the region, ranging from ORTEC, a consulting group, to NASA, and several of our students are currently on co-op, including Alison Davis and Jacob Cassady.

Riding the storm out
Davis, lived in Houston before moving to Louisville at a young age. She attended Manual High School prior to her tenure at the Speed School, where she is currently a junior in the Department of Industrial Engineering. Returning to Houston recently for another co-op round with ORTEC, Davis’ experience has been comparatively manageable.

She said experiencing Hurricane Harvey was like living on an island.

“I could walk about a mile to the nearest flooded bayou (Brays Bayou), but I haven’t driven my car since Friday,” she said. “With the flash flooding, I didn’t want to risk getting stuck. I’m now planning on volunteering to help with the recovery in Houston in the coming months.”

Cassady is a senior Computer Engineering and Computer Science major and is working his second co-op with NASA at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. He is part of the spacecraft software engineering division that is working on a project related to the testing of the Orion capsule.

Cassady and Davis both prepared for this scenario, stocking up on food and other supplies in advance of the storm. While Davis has remained outside of the path of the flooding, Cassady has been less fortunate, becoming trapped by rising water without an avenue of escape, at least by conventional methods, and making any re-supply trip unlikely in the short term.Ěý

“We are completely flooded in, but luckily we have had power for at least a portion of every day and have power right now. We haven’t seen any flooding in the house, but it has come close,” Cassady said. “There was a mandatory evacuation yesterday, but we worried we would be worse off leaving. We are safe here. We have plenty of food, water, and optimism. Given our circumstances, I think we are in pretty good shape.”

Working it out
For both Cassady and Davis, their respective co-op employers have been understanding of the difficulties brought on by the storm. Davis notes that ORTEC has been flexible, and she has had opportunities to work from home for the past few days.

“They are less concerned about the work and more concerned about our safety during the storm and the ongoing flooding,” she said.Ěý

Likewise, NASA is operating on a day-by-day basis, with both Monday and Tuesday off. Since, Cassady has also had the opportunity to work from home.

“There is no way we or many families around here could get to (work) … there has been flooding and damages in the Clear Lake area around and inside of the space center,” he said, adding that people are predicting it will be “awhile” until things are back to normal at work, as many employees will need time to repair their homes.

Processing Hurricane Harvey
Davis has processed the crisis by remaining engaged with her work and her family in order to stay focused.

“Over the last few days I’ve heard from family, friends and people I haven’t talked to in ages asking if I am safe. Even though I’m not at school currently I have the support of my Speed School family asking what they can do for me a thousand miles away,” Davis said.Ěý

She added that work and studying are very important to her. But when a storm like Harvey devastates so many so close by, the importance of family, friends and community becomes much clearer.

“I’m sure I will have quite a bit more to take away from this experience once I am able to start volunteering to help out the people who have really been affected,” Davis said.

In Cassady’s case, Hurricane Harvey has given him a new perspective on the destructive force of the environment.

“I never thought I’d see several feet of water cover an entire city or a palm tree bend to the will of the wind. It’s important to be educated on what to do when visiting places that experience tropical storms,” said Davis. “It has also helped me understand the power of good spirits in times of peril. Since the storm hit, there have been kids swimming in the streets and enjoying their days off. The laughter in the lulls of the storm have made all of the difference.”

Kentucky’s Lt. Governor Jenean Hampton, along with officials from JCPS, and NASA Kentucky also encouraged attendees to take courses in the STEM fields and to enter engineering as a career.

After the program, students participated in hands-on activities, engaged in demonstrations, and examined student-designed rockets from the UofL rocket team, River City Rocketry. To honor the day, Mayor Gregory Fischer proclaimed the date to be Commitment to Engineering łÉČËÖ±˛Ą.

Video from the event is included below:

He took time out of his schedule to talk to UofL News about his research and what it means to achieve 10,000 citations.

UofL News: Could you tell us more about your research?

Zurada: My specialty is machine learning and artificial intelligence. Both deal with theory and development of computer systems that are able to perform tasks which normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and translation between languages. These are emerging technologies that have an amazing range of applications and serve humanity by making our lives easier and more connected, and also promote social good. I’m sure you own a smartphone, the flagship achievement of AI of our generation.

UofL News: What does it mean to have such a high citation score? To what do you attribute this distinction?
Ěý
Zurada: Traditionally, researchers had difficulties with quantifying their research contributions. The number of publications that people author or co-author is not a good metric, because publications can both be in quality journals and conferences, but also can be submitted to outlets that require no reviews prior to publication and would accept papers with little to no vetting by peers. While the former approach requires a lot of effort, the latter is a more opportunistic and less risky path that I’d compare to posting on blogs, usually done without the rigors of peer review. To sum it up – having published 50 papers in your career doesn’t tell the full story. It’s because the research impact of a paper is initially reflected by the journal title where it has been published, but it’s ultimately and accurately evidenced only several years later by how many times other researchers have cited your work. And they tend to reference papers that have been reviewed and appeared in high impact journals.

There is a general consensus in the research community that the number of citations to your body of work is the ultimate metric to evaluate the impact of your research. It’s a first-hand measure of how many times people read, notice and refer to your work in order to extend or improve it. To help answer these questions from researchers, Google Scholar has equipped us with a fantastic public tool for searching through scientific literature. It also helps authors to keep track of citations to their articles and thus monitor the impact of their work.Ěý
Ěý
UofL News: Was this gradual? Did your research evolve to fit more into the zeitgeist, so to speak, or vice versa?
Ěý
Zurada: My first cited publications related to my PhD work. More recent citations have been to a very well received 2009 paper that collected over 400 citations and was published while I was on sabbatical. In the meantime, citations by other authors to some 380 papers of mine keep growing at a rate exceeding 600/year for the last 6 years.Ěý

UofL News: How does this (citation milestone) influence your work?

Zurada:ĚýObviously, citations offer an author a great deal of encouragement, if not a public approval for the idea. They also validate the work that your team is doing. When you publish something, you initially don’t know its future impact. So, when people carry on what you have started, that’s a big deal. It indicates that you’ve done something seminal or inspiring, or of high impact that others want to continue or expand. However, when writing a research article, I pay no attention to its future citations. Frankly, I know of no ways to engineer your citations. I focus, however, on how to contribute an original method, outline a new theory, describe a new application, or offer insights into data that I and my students have studied. Novelty, usefulness, and a lucid presentation in a high impact journal are all ‘must have’ of a good, citable publication and are true gatekeepers for your future citations.Ěý

UofL News: How do you balance your research and other (teaching, administrative, professional) responsibilities?
Ěý
Zurada: University teaching, especially graduate teaching, reinforces our research and all academics agree on this. While administrative duties on campus can be viewed by some as distraction from research, we also need to realize that a collective effort is needed for the university to smoothly function as an institution of higher learning. Therefore, input from faculty with considerable research experience to the university governance is necessary. I therefore had to find the time to serve in such roles as a Speed School Senator and as a Parliamentarian for the Faculty Senate, member of the Speed Faculty Activity Committee, Graduate Council member and as a Chair of the ECE Curriculum Committee.

This still leaves me the time to be actively engaged in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which, with over 400,000 members, is the world’s largest professional organization. It happens to be an organization created for and by electrical and electronic engineers. It is well known and highly regarded for advancing technology for humanity and for its vast and prestigious intellectual property. I have served as IEEE Vice President in 2013-15, and was Chair of its Periodicals Committee and Periodicals Review Committees in 2010-13. I am also an IEEE Life Fellow.

UofL News: What advice do you have for burgeoning researchers?
Ěý
Zurada: My first and loftyĚýmessage for aspiring researchers-authors is that you don’t write a paper for yourself, neither for your chair or dean or a promotion committee, but for the readers and in a broader sense you target the humanity. The wider your target audience, the more success can be scored. My other message is of more practical nature: authors need to pay careful attention to the reproducibility of results presented in their papers so that other researchers with a similar specialized knowledge could replicate the papers’ outcomes. Dead-ended publications with no follow up aren’t useful because when our published disclosures can’t be applied, improved on or otherwise continued, our efforts have been wasted.

Callen isn’t sure what the future holds beyond his impending spring graduation, but he knows that he wants Mullikin to be part of it. Since his high school graduation, Callen has been a student in one way or another, first in the officer candidate school for the Marine Corps and later at the University of Louisville. He came toĚýUofL in 2007, first as a student in the Speed School, before transitioned to marketing, and thenĚýreturning in 2012 to the Speed School. The call for engineering was too strong.

Callen has long studied the science of their relationship. Although he knew that they had good chemistry, Callen had planned for months for the best moment to propose.

“She told me last May that she thought she’d be married by now. When I knew, it was shortly after that. You know what, I’ll never find anyone else in the world that’s going to tell me… I don’t even know how to word that,” Callen said.Ěý“The mental aspect of it is a complex thing that most engineers don’t get, because it’s not based on logic. Basically everything we do has to be logical, because that’s how the world works.”

Part of his struggle was in finding the right way to express his love, while staying true to his engineering roots.

“I’m not in touch with my emotional side, I figured that spending the amount of time that it took to make this ring and design it would show here that I care. A lot,” he said.

Callen cared enough to spend 5½ months working on the ring.

“I figured that’d be a way I could show my feelings,” he said.Ěý

As for the process, Callen first had to determine what kind of ring to create, but needed more data from Mullikin. The two looked at a few rings and after identifying a few qualities that she admired, he went cautiously forward. Out of all the options available, he narroed it down to the emerald cut, modified hexagonal and marquee cut.Ěý

“So I did my own research. Which ones did I think were the coolest? Obviously I’m into geometric shapes. There are circle cuts, round cuts… all these weird things. I picked the thing that would be most geometric, which would be emerald,” Callen said.

Once that decision was final, he “extruded a basic shape” on Solid Works, took measurements from a ring Mullikin regularly wears and “went from there.” With help from Joe Vicars in the Rapid Prototyping Center, he designed a mold for the ring, which was then set in gold.

“The mold is not like a mold out of play dough. The mold is a design. To straight up 3-D print in gold would be an astronomical amount of money. People do it, but I can’t do that. I created the plastic version of the ring, so that I had an object to hold, and I sent off all my materials to a place called Shape Ways, a 3-D printing website,” Callen said.Ěý

When it came time, Callen proposed to Mullikin on campus on the first floor of the Rapid Prototyping Center. Mullikin said yes.

After accepting his proposal, Callen took Mullikin on a tour of the facility, leaving campus to meet up with family and friends to celebrate. Now the wedding planning has begun, and true to his nature, Callen has offered to work with Mullikin to create her own wedding band, an act of collaboration symbolic of their love.Ěý

For more on this story, check out the video below:Ěý

Photo courtesy of Kari Donahue.Ěý