The University of Rhode Island hosted its annual National Biomechanics Day celebration on April 8, where more than 500 high school and middle school students experienced hands-on demonstrations with advanced scientific equipment at Mackal Field House.
The event aimed to encourage younger students to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) by exposing them to practical applications of biomechanics. Students participated in activities such as testing their jumping ability, sprint speed, grip strength, and dead lift capability. They also interacted with motion capture technology that displayed their movements on a computer screen; wore simulation gear like weight vests and cataract glasses to experience the challenges faced by older adults; stood on force plates for balance tests; and tried out virtual reality systems used in motor skills rehabilitation. Biomedical engineering students presented a glove they designed that tracks hand movement via computer connection.
Exhibits were organized by professors and graduate students from various disciplines including kinesiology, physical therapy, biomedical engineering, and strength training. Associate Professor Susan D’Andrea said the event helps make science feel accessible: “I talk a lot with the teachers, and several have said students have come up to them saying ‘I now know exactly what I want to do. I want to go into kinesiology; I want to do sports science. I can see myself doing this.’ It doesn’t touch every student who comes, but it does touch a lot of them. I always say, if I get one person interested from this who applies to URI and comes into our program or biomedical engineering, I’ve done my job.”
D’Andrea emphasized efforts to include under-resourced schools so their students could access technologies they might not otherwise encounter. She worked with the Rhode Island Department of Education’s STEM specialist to invite schools across the state—including middle schools like Sophia Academy in Providence.
Assistant Professor Ryan Chapman said these experiences are important for making STEM fields approachable: “Sometimes there can be a little fear about going into STEM… We bring it into a real-world, hands-on setting and they think ‘Oh, I could do that.’ It helps shift their mentality,” Chapman said. “There’s never not going to be a need for kids to come into STEM… So this type of outreach… helps them realize that they have an option.”
National Biomechanics Day is part of an international initiative celebrating biomechanics—a field spanning biology in the physical world—which supports advances in medicine, health care, human performance research, prosthetics development and more.
