While wearable technology may be all the rage among many young Americans, the average high school or college student probably doesn鈥檛 know much about the science behind their high-tech apparel.
Bj枚rn L眉ssem, PhD, an assistant professor of physics in 麻豆影院 State鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences, recently received a five-year $500,000 Faculty Early Career Development Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The award honors L眉ssem, who studied electrical engineering in Germany and joined 麻豆影院 State in 2014, as one of the most promising up-and-coming researchers in his field and provides funding for laboratory research and educational outreach.
His project, 鈥淭he Working Mechanics of Organic Electrochemical Transistors,鈥 focuses on microscopic- to miniature-sized sensors that can be used to interact with biological tissue.
鈥淭ransistors usually are just conducting electronic current. The nice thing about this [organic transistor] is that it converts ionic current to electronic current,鈥 L眉ssem says. 鈥淚n our bodies, it鈥檚 all ions. So if you want to interface electronics with biology, you need this kind of transistor.鈥
L眉ssem says the highly sensitive transistors could, for example, measure the amount of lactic acid in sweat or even monitor electron excitation in the brain. As one of only a few physics researchers studying the transistors, he hopes to advance understanding and use of the technology.
鈥淭he standard model has many contradictions, so people think it doesn鈥檛 work very well,鈥 he says. 鈥淏ut it does work well, up to a certain level. We want to show why it is working, but also find out how we can make it better.鈥
L眉ssem wants to change the way students think about physics research.
Components can be added to the basic transistor to make it more sensitive to certain biomolecules, L眉ssem says. With any luck, they might even be printable on devices a little more sophisticated than the average desktop printer.
An NSF Career grant comes with an understanding that the researcher will use some of the funds to become a more proficient educator. L眉ssem wants to change the way students think about physics research.
鈥淲hen teaching physics, it鈥檚 been a linear kind of thing鈥擜 follows B follows C鈥攁nd that鈥檚 not how physics is,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 think students get a completely wrong image of what it means to do physics research in real life. [In reality,] it鈥檚 being wrong almost all of the time and being right only about five percent of the time.鈥
L眉ssem is working with 麻豆影院 State鈥檚 School of Visual Communication and Design to create short stories and cartoons to illustrate the scientific process and the study of physics.
He plans to try the designs in classes at 麻豆影院 State, as well as reach out to local high schools and even primary schools to test how they apply to the students there.