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Student Profiles
WILL SNYDER ADVISOR: RAFFAELLA DE VITA CO-ADVISOR: RAFAEL DAVALOS
Will Snyder graduated from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in mechanical engineering. During his senior year, he took a class taught by Raffaella De Vita and joined her lab as part of a class project. Will found himself enjoying the work, and ultimately decided to join De Vita’s lab through the BIOTRANS program. “Given that I had very little exposure to life sciences during my mechanical engineering education, it seemed like the BIOTRANS experience would be very beneficial to my future work,” Will said.
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WHAT WAS THE ROTATION
PROCESS LIKE? My first rotation was with Dr. Schmale analyzing the elastic response of wheat leaves following water droplet impacts to understand how the structural mechanics of the leaves contributes to the dispersal of disease spores during rainstorms. Next, I worked in Dr. Davalos’ lab learning how to model a passive cell separation technique known as pinched flow fractionation with COMSOL, their preferred finite element software. Finally, I rotated in Dr. De Vita’s lab, where I began using COMSOL to recreate a biaxial stress-strain experiment, which involved the inflation of rat vaginal tissue to investigate its mechanical properties.
HOW DID YOU KNOW WHICH LAB
TO CHOOSE? It was really always going to be Dr. De Vita’s lab — I had been working with her before I graduated, and I already felt like a part of her team. She’s one of the main reasons I decided to pursue graduate level education in the first place, so it wasn’t a difficult choice.
WHAT ARE YOU STUDYING
NOW? The focus of my research is to apply the reduced order modeling techniques I learned during my rotation to a more complex model. We believe we can eventually apply this more complex reduced order model to perform inverse finite element analysis, whereby the mechanical properties of a real material can be determined by matching the model to experimental stressstrain results for said material.
PROGRAM? I am most looking forward to having colleagues from a myriad of different disciplines who can provide unique perspectives informed by the nuances of their respective fields. I feel like I am constantly learning just by stepping outside of my limited engineering bubble, and I hope to continue that trend.
LANDON BILYEU ADVISOR: DAVID SCHMALE, COADVISOR: SHANE ROSS
Landon Bilyeu graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in biological engineering. In his search for a Ph.D. program, he originally applied to Virginia Tech’s Department of Biology. “Somebody reached out to me about BIOTRANS and recommended me to apply, since it is a combination of biology and engineering. I thought it would be a good fit, and I have had a good experience with both science and engineering professors,” Landon said.
WHAT WAS THE ROTATION
PROCESS LIKE? Overall, I enjoyed my rotation process. It wasn’t a lot of time in each lab, but I did enjoy all my different lab experiences. With Dr. Ross, I worked on creating a predictive model for Red Tide events in Florida where we attempted to determine which beaches would experience less of a potentially harmful algal blooms (HABs). With Dr. Schmale, I analyzed HAB data we had collected over the summer and went to Florida to collect Red Tide HAB data. With Dr. Boreyko, I mixed it up and did work on jumping droplets that occur on wheat leaves and their potential for fungal spore dispersal.
HOW DID YOU KNOW WHICH LAB
TO CHOOSE? I had a good idea
that I wanted to work with algae blooms and during my rotations I found that I enjoyed the field aspect of Dr. Schmale’s lab and that pushed me into asking to work with him.
WHAT ARE YOU STUDYING NOW?
I look at how weather conditions impact the severity of HABs, and I would like to learn how to apply the data we collect to a model that could map the impact area of a HAB.
PROGRAM? I am looking forward to continuing to work with people from different departments and combining multiple fields to the work I will do, as I think interdisciplinary research allows for much more to be discovered.
DR. KHALED ADJERID ADVISOR: JAKE SOCHA CO-ADVISOR: RAFFAELLA DE VITA
Khaled Adjerid earned his Ph.D. in December 2019. He is now a postdoctoral research fellow in anatomy and neurobiology at the Northeast Ohio Medical University, where he works in Rebecca German’s lab. He studies deficiencies in preterm infant drinking, swallowing, and respiration. “While it is a departure from my engineering background, as well as my insect biomechanics doctoral studies, programs like BIOTRANS prepared me to jump into a role like this and speak with experts, read papers, and learn techniques outside of my primary disciplinary,” said Khaled. He ultimately hopes to move into a full-time academic position.
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO BE PART OF THE BIOTRANS
PROGRAM? “I found that the aspect that really sold me on BIOTRANS was the crossdiscipline collaboration. The BIOTRANS program was built upon the idea that the greatest advances in sciences are to be made at interfaces of disciplines by researchers who are able to communicate fluently across disciplinary boundaries. This was evident at every social gathering, student activity, class, and seminar.”
WHAT WAS THE FOCUS OF
YOUR RESEARCH? “I studied how insects control the flows of fluids around their bodies. We looked at the unexpected degree of control that insects have of the pressure regimes in their body. Then we examined the structure and movement of the small tubes that control air throughout their bodies. Finally, we studied the material properties of those tubes possibly explaining how they selectively collapse creating valves and pathways for airflow in the body. ”
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY FROM YOUR TIME IN
BIOTRANS? “My favorite memory was the BIOTRANS retreat where the current and past students gathered at Mountain Lake to discuss ways in which crossdisciplinary collaborations could be better facilitated for the students and faculty. While it was fun to be in the mountain air sharing our research experiences and getting advice from senior students, later seeing our input in a new and evolving program being considered and implemented by the faculty was satisfying.”
