SURF Mentoring
Potential projects/topics: (1) Mechanical Design of Bioelectronics, (2) Modeling Implantable Antennas, (3) Modeling ingestible electronics, (4) Underwater Bioelectronics, (5) Health and Biomedical Devices, (6) Design of Future Functional Materials.
Potential skills gained: Engineering Modeling, Technical Writing and Presentation, Conduct Literature Reviews, Poster Preparation
Required qualifications or skills: All engineering majors. Preferably (but not required) a background with CAD and enrolled or completed the statics (MECH 202) course. If the student is not an engineering major, but still interested in my projects, I would be happy to chat with them about potential areas of integration with the projects.
Direct mentor: Faculty/P.I., Graduate Student
Research Areas
Dr. Avila’s research centers on modeling and simulation of bioelectronics for health care and biomedical applications. His research laboratory aims to develop a theoretical and computational framework to study the scalability, packaging, power limitations, tissue interactions and energy absorption in bioelectronic devices. He is interested in developing bioelectronic design concepts to yield ingenious mechanical capabilities with sufficient electromagnetic efficiency at the material-level and device-level for wireless signal sensing, mechanics manipulation, clinical imaging, and energy harvesting applications. Inspired by the potential to advance patient care by levering engineering concepts, Dr. Avila’s research aims to expand bioelectronics capabilities by combining mechanics, materials, and electromagnetics design in emerging applications including dissolvable pacemakers, sweat collection microfluidic devices, ultra-soft biosensors for NICU and PICU patients, implantable optogenetic devices, bioresorbable temperature sensors and pacemakers, miniaturized pressure sensors for prosthetics, and drug delivery technologies.
