UC lab prevents injuries with engineering – University of Cincinnati

Eric Nauman’s lab looks like the kind of place where engineering problems are unravelled and solved.
Students work on novel biomedical and sports-related projects in every corner of the University of Cincinnati’s Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Lab on the first floor of the Bioscience Center.
There is a wall of hockey, lacrosse and football helmets that students place on sensor-laden dummies to study concussions. A heavy ambulance gurney helps students examine ways to transport premature babies more safely. On a lab bench is NBA star Steph Curry’s blue-and-yellow branded basketball sneaker, cut horizontally in half to reveal its sole.
And next to the bench is a large wooden platform sloped like a cornhole box. But instead of a hole in the middle for beanbags, it has a sunken well for electronics. Nauman said it’s an artificial pitching mound they use to test the forces that pitchers face when they throw from the mound.
All of these projects and more are designed for one thing.
“We want to prevent injuries as much as possible. But if we can’t prevent them, we have to find a way to repair them,” said Nauman, a professor of biomedical engineering in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science.
UC Professor Eric Nauman talks to high school students about the many research projects they could work on if they enrolled in biomedical engineering at UC. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
This month Nauman gave high school students from across Ohio an introduction to the research questions he and his students are trying to solve in his lab. The students are participating in UC’s annual GE Next Engineers summer camp.
One ongoing project examines flaws in sports equipment to reduce the risk of player concussion. As many as 14% of high school players sustain one or more concussions, according to federal health figures. That represents a staggering 300,000 players every year.
“What are the symptoms of concussion?” Nauman asked the students. “Poor coordination. Blurry vision. A metallic taste in your mouth. Smell of sulfur or rotten eggs. In extreme cases, your feet or hands will feel itchy for no reason. That’s your brain misinterpreting signals and it’s a sign you need immediate medical attention.”
Biomedical engineering students study ways to prevent sports-related concussions in UC's Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Laboratory. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
UC graduate student Sean Bucherl uses a $10,000 modal impulse hammer on a mounted dummy head also loaded with sensors. Bucherl demonstrated the forces registered to a sensor dummy’s head both with and without a helmet.
“It used to be fun,” he said, winding up and striking the dummy’s head with lethal force.
That was before he had to swing it literally thousands of times over the past few years to test multiple helmets for the lab’s experiments.
“This is the hammer they use to hit nuclear weapons to see what forces they can withstand before they’re triggered,” Nauman said.
That story might be apocryphal, but NASA does use modal hammers on its aerospace equipment before sending it into space.
The helmet reduced the impact recorded by more than two-thirds. “It spreads out the force,” he said.
Eric Nauman, UC Professor of Biomedical Engineering
On a table is a basketball sneaker sliced in half at the sole. Students in the lab are studying whether the latest basketball sneakers provide support enough to prevent ankle sprains and breaks.
On a shelf with 100 other helmets is the Vicis ZERO2 helmet.
“This is the same helmet worn by Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow,” Nauman said.
Next to the helmets are mannequin heads for wigs in various hairstyles, including long locks.
In a collaboration with UC’s College-Conservatory of Music, the lab is examining if certain hairstyles might help prevent concussions. So far they found that thick locks do offer some measurable benefits in protecting players from concussions compared to buzz cuts or other close-cropped hair.
Their findings will be published in upcoming journal articles.
UC Professor Eric Nauman and his biomedical engineering students are developing a baseball pitching mound laden with sensors that will allow them to measure the physical forces pitchers endure in a game. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
It’s one thing to batter a helmet with a hammer, but it’s another to determine the forces players incur on the field during games. They hope to answer those questions next. The lab ordered two robotic tackling dummies outfitted with sensors. The moving dummies will simulate realistic collisions with football players on the field.
Sometimes people outside UC solicit Nauman’s help. Recently, the UC lab designed a pair of prosthetics to help a girl with a disability play the violin.
Against a wall is a medical gurney for a project examining safer ways to transport babies, particularly tinier premature babies who need neonatal care.
While most newborns can be cradled in your forearm, preemies are too small even for that.
“Think of a large russet potato,” Bucherl joked.
These tiny, fragile babies can’t endure the jostling typical of an ambulance ride.
“Babies can get cerebral hemorrhages just from riding in the back of an ambulance,” Nauman said.
So his lab is working with UC Assistant Professor Orlando Hoilette on ways to keep babies safer through engineering.
“I thought that was interesting,” said Shaylene Mendoza, one of the high school students who participated in the GE Next Engineers summer camp. 
She’s still not sure what subjects she will pursue in college but said she liked learning more about biomedical engineering at UC.
After Nauman’s presentation, another high school student Nick Belck stayed behind with some others to ask a few questions.
“The concussion forces they register are insane,” he said. “It’s been great seeing the engineering labs firsthand.”
Nauman designed and built a novel football helmet that uses an interior and exterior shell separated by a spongy material that showed promise in concussion force experiments. He and his students regularly use the makerspace at UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub for their inventions to fashion custom wood, metal or 3D printed parts.
“And duct tape. They don’t tell you that,” Nauman joked.
Featured image at top: UC graduate student Sean Bucherl uses a sensor dummy to study ways to prevent sports-related concussions. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
UC College of Engineering and Applied Science Professor Eric Nauman is developing ways to prevent injuries such as concussions in his lab. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
Students in Eric Nauman's Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Lab are studying whether basketball shoes provide enough support to prevent injuries. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
Biomedical engineering students look for ways to prevent common injuries using technology in UC's Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Lab. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
A hydraulic pitching machine sits in a corner of UC's Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Lab. Photo/Gregory Glevicky/UC
UC students are working on ways to prevent common injuries using technology in the Human Injury Research and Regenerative Technologies Lab. Photo/Andrew Higley/UC Marketing + Brand

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2600 Clifton Ave.
Cincinnati, OH 45220
513-556-0000
© 2025 University of Cincinnati

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