In the world of being both a student and a collegiate athlete, young adults have to find and accomplish feats both on and off the court every single day. To do so, athletes like junior libero Devan Taylor must maintain high levels of discipline and hard work. Devan, a driven and accomplished biomedical engineering major, is balancing her ambition of achieving greatness in all aspects of her life one opportunity at a time.
As the Spring, Texas native enters her junior year, she has had the opportunity to work on multiple inquiry projects through the engineering department. These have included working alongside Prisma: Orthopedic Implant Retrieval Lab (REPRO) to help develop a viable Implant Retrieval Program and pursue hypothesis-driven research related to orthopedic implants with the goal to provide a working repository for retrieved orthopedic implants and to develop the tools and techniques for the systematic evaluation of implant designs, materials, surfaces and function.
Another impactful creative inquiry Devan has worked was under Dr. John DesJardins within Clemson’s Bioengineering department. Devan and fellow classmates collaborated with BMW to address a pressing issue faced by BMW’s assembly line workers. The workers were suffering from joint pain and arthritis due to manually inserting plastic inserts into the interior of the cars during production. This dilemma was impacting the health and wellbeing of each member on the assembly line. The challenge was to find a solution that would improve the workers’ ergonomics and enhance their overall well-being.
Devoted to their task, Devan and her group embarked on a journey of innovation. They designed, developed and tested nine prototypes, each aimed at assisting the workers in inserting the plastic components. Through meticulous pressure testing using tech scan sensors, they refined their designs to identify the most effective solution. The ergonomic wearable body plug assisted those working on the assembly line by reducing thumb related injuries for at risk line associates by creating a low cost, minimal impact on-line solution that reduces force on thumbs by a minimum of 50 percent and maintains necessary efficiency during plug insertion. Their relentless dedication and hard work eventually paid off as BMW implemented the prototypes on their assembly lines, reducing worker strain by minimizing repetitive task tissue injuries and optimizing production efficiency.
For Devan, being part of…