Peterson develops improvements for communications devices

Inside an echo-free room - known as an anechoic chamber - at the UConn Health Center 's new acoustics laboratory, it is so quiet that you can hear blood flowing through your ears.

Here, amid the sound-absorbing fiberglass wedges and in an adjacent reverberation room for sound amplification, UConn researchers are exploring ways to improve communications in noise protection devices and testing other types of instruments.

Donald Peterson '95 M.S., '99 Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and assistant professor of biomedical engineering, expects the lab to become "a beehive of activity" with two $1.25 million grants from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) that arrived in July of this year.

One grant will significantly expand the communications improvement research; the other is for the formation of a national center for the study of healthy occupational environments.

Photo: Peter Morenus

Donald Peterson ’95 M.S., ’99 Ph.D., left, assistant professor of medicine and of biomedical engineering, and Subhash Gullapalli, a former UConn research engineer, work in an anechoic chamber at the UConn Health Center.

Both areas are outgrowths of work Peterson has been doing at the Health Center since the mid-1990s, when he established a biodynamics lab to study the biomechanics and neuromuscular control processes of human movement.

Peterson grew up in Enfield, Conn., where he spent much of his childhood dissecting and reassembling toys "to figure out how things worked."

He also dreamed of becoming an astronaut.

A Renaissance man, he earned a double undergraduate major in aerospace and bioengineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, studying the fluid mechanics of blood flow and working with two other students on a "lunar-based waste management technology system" proposal sponsored by NASA, even as he minored in drama and played varsity football.

As a graduate student at UConn under the tutelage of pharmacology professor Mary Anne Farrell Epstein, Peterson developed an apparatus to test cells under fluid sheer.

He also began working with Martin Cherniak, director of the Biodynamics Laboratory of the Ergonomic Technology Center of Connecticut, who hired Peterson to create a research laboratory for the center, which is a joint venture among the UConn Health Center, state government and industry to improve workplace environments.

Cherniak leads the center's clinic for arm and hand injuries suffered by musicians. Peterson has designed instrument attachments to limit the risk of such injuries.

While setting up the biodynamics lab, Peterson developed motion capture equipment and portable devices, called data loggers, to record and quantify the human motion, grip forces and vibrations associated with hammering, typing and using power tools.

The project work became his doctoral dissertation and led to further explorations funded by Stanley Tools and a NIOSH grant.

Peterson soon began collaborating with Anthony Brammer, a UConn professor of cell biology who also is an acoustical physicist and a sound and vibration exposure expert whose interests paralleled his own.

In early 2001, the trio applied for federal funds to develop an acoustic laboratory to study noise issues aimed at improving communications between air traffic controllers and pilots.

NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration supported the application, and the U.S. Congress approved a two-year $2.5 million appropriation for the project. The lab was completed in 2004.

The researchers have worked on noise control issues with communication headsets for the military, and one of the new NIOSH grants will expand the scope of that research.

Peterson says it has the potential "to improve communication and promote safety in all types of occupational environments."

Photo: Peter Morenus

Sound from a pair of headphones is measured by a microphone and a laser at Donald Peterson’s lab at the UConn Health Center.

They will examine transmission, filtering and processing of communication using technology primarily developed and patented by Brammer that will be incorporated into commercial and industrial settings.

Under the occupational health NIOSH grant, the University of Connecticut and the University of Massachusetts will work together to set up a national healthy workplace center.

"We'll be looking at human factors, including ergonomics, psychosocial stress factors, biomechanics and levels of exposure from repetitive tasks," Peterson says, adding he will also be designing "the next generation" of data loggers to record biomechanical data and collaborating with companies to determine "what can be done to make specific jobs healthier."

He says the acoustics laboratory also is a testing ground for other equipment, such as dental instruments, as well as studying the longevity of hand instrument maintenance.

When he is not conducting research or advising UConn graduate students, Peterson teaches graduate classes in biodynamics, biofluid mechanics and human biomechanics.

He also assists in instruction of gross anatomy at the UConn School of Medicine, helping first year dental and medical students understand the biodynamics of joint structures.

While investigating inner space, Peterson has not given up his dream of exploring outer space.

In 2003, he applied to NASA to become a mission specialist and he hopes to be among the next group of astronauts, which will be selected in about a year.

In the meantime, he is planning to visit the Johnson Space Center in Houston several times this year, working with a grant funding the design of the biomechanics needed for a space suit that will be used by astronauts traveling to Mars.

-Karen Singer '73 (CLAS)