Students’ corner
New ESB Student Committee
Following the call for the renewal of the ESB Student Committee in Fall 2016, we are pleased to welcome the new Committee. They are:
Mrs Laura Baumgartner
Computational Biomechanics and Mechanobiology – SIMBIOsys-BCN-MedTech, Department of Communication and Information Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF)
Laura Baumgartner graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich, Switzerland with a Bachelor in Human Movement Sciences and a Master in Biomechanics. After her studies, her first research experience was in the field of trauma biomechanics and accident reconstruction at the working group on accident mechanics (AGU) in Zürich, Switzerland. Besides developing expertise in accident reconstruction, she was involved in national projects to improve road traffic safety. She enjoyed the research aspects of this job, and so chose to continue her studies and extend her experience/expertise in injury-biomechanics from “macroscopic” trauma to microtrauma. In 2016, she was accepted as a PhD-student at the Research Group for Computational Biomechanics and Mechanobiology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain. Her thesis work focuses on coupling biomechanics and mechanobiology to investigate microtrauma-processes due to degeneration of the human intervertebral disc at multiple length scales.
Mr Miguel Ángel Ariza Gracia
Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (i3A, University of Zaragoza)
Institute for Surgical Technology and Bioengineering (ISTB, University of Bern)
Á. Ariza-Gracia received his M. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering (2013, University of Zaragoza, Spain) and Biomedical Engineering (2014, University of Zaragoza, Spain). He worked in the European Project: System Based on 3D plenoptic Imaging for Dynamic Topographical Corneal Characterization (PopCorn). Since 2014, he has been a PhD candidate in the Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (i3A, Zaragoza, Spain), with his thesis focusing on computational modelling of corneal biomechanics. Currently, he holds an ESKAS scholarship and works at the Institute for Surgical Technology and Biomechanics (University of Bern, Switzerland).
His main research lines are:
– Automatization and Optimization algorithms to determine material properties of the corneal tissue
– Opto-mechanical and surgical simulations of human eye (e.g. laser surgeries, intra-corneal ring segment implantation, or astigmatic keratotomy)
– Tissue remodeling
Mr Edoardo Borgiani
Julius Wolff Institute, Charité Universitätsmedizin
Edoardo Borgiani studied Biomedical Engineering at the University of Bologna, where he graduated as Master of Science in February 2015. After the defence of his master’s Thesis, he moved to Berlin to develop a PhD research-project at Julius Wolff Institute. Currently he is working in the field of the mechano-regulation of fracture healing in mice. By using computational models, he simulates the tissue formation inside the fracture gap to investigate the aging-related factors that compromise healing performance. He took part in the previous two ESB Conferences (Prague 2015, Lyon 2016) where he had the opportunity to promote his work with podium presentations, and looks forward to participating in the upcoming conference in Seville to show the progress of his research.
Student workshop at ESB 2017
The new student committee is happy to announce that a workshop for students entitled “Get prepared to apply to competitive postdoctoral fellowships” will be held on Tuesday July 4th from 13:00 to 14:00, at the 23rd Congress of the European Society of Biomechanics, in Seville, Spain (http://esbiomech2017.org/). The workshop will focus on Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral individual fellowships that have became a gold standard in Europe.
The workshop will be presented by a National Contact point of the EU Marie Sklodowska-Curie Program, one current Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow (individual fellowship), one senior PhD student, and one senior researcher with experience in reviewing Marie-Sklodowska Curie fellowship. They will talk about their respective experiences and animate the debate with the audience about the best way to be prepared to apply to competitive fellowships. The debate will be moderated by a senior researcher and former Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow.
Each PhD thesis is unique and has its own strengths and weaknesses. The number of journal articles or impact factor of the journals is not everything. PhD candidates who foresee to apply to competitive fellowships should timely identify the specific assets that their PhD can bring to their CV and build a relevant track record around these assets. Being aware of the policy that underlies a call, and of the way reviewers are asked to evaluate the candidates is of utmost importance.
