In December, West Virginia Wesleyan College was awarded a $20,000 grant toward the purchase of a full color Mcor ARKe 3D printer. More recently, the college was awarded a three-year grant in the amount of $120,000 to pay summer internship stipends to 10 WVWC students who will utilize the new technology to do some unique research.

 

Among those students is 2014 Bridgeport High School graduate Rachel Fulks.

 

“I’m pretty excited,” she said. “I wasn’t really sure if I’d be selected since I’m an exercise science major and a lot of times they take bio and chemistry majors, but for this specific project, it worked out.”

 

Fulks is a junior at WVWC, where she is also a pre-physician’s assistant major and human biology minor.

 

“Since we’ve never had a 3D printer here before, we kind of need to get it up and running to figure out what it can be used for,” Fulks said. “What we’re going to do use templates for the 3Dmodels and print anatomical models of bones and other things in the body, do calculations on them and see which ones are most accurate.”

 

The grant was written by Dr. Greg Popovich, associate professor of exercise science - and a 1991 graduate of BHS - and Kristy Henson, MS, assistant lab coordinator and lecturer in the biology department. The project was inspired from Henson’s graduate work at Marshall University.

 

“I compared various forms of digital replication of skeletal remains on native American remains which were in the process of being repatriated. We didn't want to lose this data,” she said. “I had a lot of fun learning about modern technology in paleontology and anthropology labs.”

 

After Henson graduated from Marshall, she accepted a position at WVWC and wanted to continue her research.

 

“I managed to pique Dr. Popovich’s interest - and we decided to collaborate,” she said.

 

Henson explained that 3D printed remains provide a chance to teach and conduct research without damaging the original material and because they are digital images, they can be shared worldwide.

 

Combining Henson’s knowledge in osteology and hominin evolution with Popovich's knowledge of muscle and biomechanics, the team hopes to begin what will hopefully be an ongoing project:  Looking at biomechanics of fossil hominins. Fulks will be working with that project, Henson said.

 

“We plan to 3D scan and 3D print lower limb bones then recreate the muscular anatomy. After this, we will place the data in an algorithm that looks at shape, length and width of the bone giving us a better understanding of how fossil hominins moved,” Henson said. “We plan to incorporate mathematics or physics students when creating this algorithm.”

A separate project which WVWC hopes to start this summer is the printing of 3D models for anatomy and kinesiology classes.

 

“When I was in anatomy, they didn’t have enough models for each table to have one and look at because models are so expensive. But they’ll be able to print models. In the long run, it will be really beneficial for various departments.”

 

The printer is expected to arrive in May and the research projects should start shortly thereafter, Fulks said.

 

Popovich said he sees academic courses including sports injury, kinesiology, forensic biology, physics and art benefiting.

 

“After we’re up and running we’re also going to take scans of human fossils they have found in the  Smithsonian archives and 3D print those fossils so they can build clay muscle from them and figure out how those muscles have evolved,” Fulks said. “At the end of the project, we’ll present our findings at a research conference.”

 

The grant also allows for summer travel funds so students can present their research findings at regional and national scientific meetings.  Sixteen faculty from all departments in the School of Science are participating as mentors.  Those faculty members come from biology and environmental science, chemistry and biochemistry, mathematics, and physics and engineering. 

 

The SURE Grant from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, Division of Science and Research, was awarded through Dr. Joanna Webb, assistant professor of chemistry at WVWC.

 

 “We have some unbelievably bright and capable students in our school, and the opportunity to work on an individual research project is when you really hook them,” Webb said.  “That is when they fall in love with their science and decide they want to solve problems.” 

Henson said WVWC hopes to take involved students to a national or international meeting to present their research next summer.

 

It's going to be a busy summer for Fulks. IIn addition to taking part in the research project, she will be applying to PA schools. She plans to obtain her undergrad at WVWC in 2018.