Craig Foster
Email Address: fosterc@uic.eduCollege: Engineering Department: Civil and Materials Engineering
Title: Assistant Professor
Office: 3085 ERF Phone: 312-996-8086
Webpage: http://www.uic.edu/depts/cme/people/faculty/fosterc.html
Participating in the Chancellor’s Undergraduate Research Awards program: Yes
Research Interest:
My research focuses on computer modeling on mechanical (stress-strain), thermal, and porous flow problems. I use finite elements and other numerical technical. I am also interested in fracture modeling/
My research is applied mostly to geotechnical, geological, and biological problems, including soil, rock, earthquake faults, and the human eye. Recent projects include penetration of projectiles into soil, deep earthquake faults, earthen structural materials, and heat flow in the eye. Minimum time commitment in hours per week: 8 Qualifications of a Student:
I am seeking 1-2 students total, and expect that they would be from Civil, Mechanical, or Biomedical Engineering, Engineering Physics, or Computer Science. However, I am open to interested students regardless of major.
Students with some CAD experience preferred, and finite elements would be a bonus. Brief Summary of what is expected from the student:
Current project: Finite Element Modeling of Eye Cooler Device
The student in this project will assist with developing a computer model of an eye cooling device. This small device is designed to cool the eye in the case of ocular trauma, to preserve it until the patient can get to a hospital or more comprehensive medical facility.
Work with graduate students to create a CAD model of the pig eye, and then a finite element model. Run that model and compare with experimental data.
The computer model, created in a commercial finite element code such as ANSYS, will verify the effectiveness of the device, i.e. how much the retina at the back of the eye can be cooled. The student will help create CAD models, important the models into to the finite element software, run the software and evaluate the results. The students will work with Professor Foster and a team of students. They will also learn about finite element analysis, a widely used tool in science and engineering used for evaluating complex structural, mechanical, thermal and problems.
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