Course Teaching (all at the University of Michigan)
UARTS 250/550 Creative Process. 4-credit course that enables students to explore the creative process through a structured sequence of exercises. Faculty from Art & Design; Music, Theatre & Dance; Architecture; and Engineering introduce a variety of creative strategies for generating problem solving ideas through hands-on projects. Course available to undergraduate and graduate students at all levels and in all disciplines. W23, Engineering section: we use the microscope to explore sensory perception and its limitations, by delving into physics, optics, engineering design, biology, human curiosity, and spark creativity!
UARTS 260/360/460/560. Project-oriented course, teams of students are working toward building LuCelegans, or The Interactive Worm Project. This is a medium-scale science/art/engineering interactive installation, featuring a 3D prototype of the only nervous system known to science that has been fully mapped: the 302-neurons nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. LuCelegans’ teams include undergraduate and graduate students majoring in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Arts & Design, Information, Education, Neuroscience, and Music/Composition. F20-W21, F21-W22, F22-W23.
ME450 Capstone Design. Undergraduate mechanical engineering students at the University of Michigan are required to work on a capstone design project near the end of their degree program. Projects are proposed from the different areas of study within mechanical engineering and reflect the expertise of instructing faculty. W23: Eleni is sponsoring the “Inclusive Design Microscope” project, in which she will be mentoring students who will work on the ideation, design, and prototyping of modifications that can make a microscope accessible to a diverse pool of researchers. Past projects, sponsored by Eleni: A 2D Clinostat for Reduced Gravity Biological Experiments, a Motorized Microscope Stage, a Nematode Motion Detection and Image Capture System.
ME590 Independent Research. ME 590 provides students the opportunity to participate in individual research projects with faculty support and supervision. Master’s and Ph.D. students are eligible to participate. W23: Eleni is supervising Kaisheng Li, who is working on “Design of Random Positioning Machine (RPM) and sample module for Space Biology studies of the nematode C. elegans“. Past projects: Second generation hydrogel-extruding 3D printer for use in nematode behavioral experiments (Ray Yang), Exploring the assumptions and parameters of a neuromechanical model for nematode locomotion (Zihan Zhou).
ME490 Research, Innovation, Service, Entrepreneurship. (3 credits) Individual or group project work where student(s) must apply mechanical engineering principles to research, innovation, service or entrepreneurship projects. Student(s) work under the direction of Mechanical Engineering faculty. Eleni has supervised the following projects and respective ME students: Hydrogel-printing 3D printer for use in nematode behavioral experiments (Noah Brooks), Design & manufacturing of a 3D rotary microscope base (Abdul Hasib, Robert Martinez).
ISD503 ISD Practicum Project (Capstone). Students in Systems Engineering + Design may register for this course. This project course is intended to provide students with an industrially-relevant project experience. A faculty member will follow the progress and serve as an adviser to the project. Eleni has sponsored the following projects: A custom system for 3D imaging of behavioral assays (Srinivasa Cheekati).