Reducing Head Injuries in Sports with Eric Nauman

Boilermaker Engineering Engenuity Podcast

In this episode highlighting the School of Mechanical Engineering (ME), we meet Eric Nauman, a professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University. We'll learn more about his work to to reduce head injuries in sports.

In this episode, Professor Eric Nauman shares about his work to reduce head injuries in sports. He is a sought-after expert in concussion research, in both American football and soccer. For his biggest research project, he collaborated with former Purdue School of Electrical and Computer Engineering professor Tom Talavage, who is now the head of biomedical engineering at the University of Cincinnati. They placed acceleration sensors on the heads of high school football players, and also conducted fMRI studies of their brains. By coordinating the two datasets, Nauman found remarkable evidence that it's not just concussions that cause brain damage.

As well as being a member of Purdue's Mechanical Engineering faculty, Nauman is a professor of Basic Medical Sciences and Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy), and Director of the Honors Programs in the College of Engineering. He directs the HIRRT Laboratory (Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies) at Purdue. He earned both his PhD and MSME from the University of California - Berkeley. His research interests include: cell and tissue mechanics, human injury, adult stem cell-based tissue regeneration, and biophysics and biotransport.

This is one of three episodes featuring Purdue University's School of Mechanical Engineering. Listen to more about ME and other engineering topics at the Purdue Engineering podcast website.