underGRADUATE STUDENTS
former undergraduate students
Demi Wilson
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Demi is a sophomore from Charlotte, North Carolina majoring biology with minors in chemistry and evolutionary anthropology on the pre-med track. She is interested in rehabilitation regarding the musculoskeletal system and the origins of movement and injury. While in the animal locomotion lab, Demi hopes to explore both inside and outside her interests and learn how to analyze movement through the evolutionary lens. Demi also has an interest in food and culinary history, but in her free time she likes to spend time with friends and family, and watch documentaries.
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Kennedy is a sophomore from Peachtree Corners, Georgia majoring in Biology with a concentration in Anatomy, Physiology, and Biomechanics as well as minoring in Statistics. She is interested in the biomechanics of sport related movements and injuries as well as the utilization of biomechanics to help provide better surgical outcomes for patients. In her free time, Kennedy enjoys reading, napping, watching basketball, and Olympic weightlifting.
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Kennedy Truitt
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Sibani Ram (Class of 2023)
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Sibani is a sophomore from Dubuque, Iowa majoring in Evolutionary Anthropology while minoring in Chemistry and English on the pre-med track. As someone who loves writing, she is interested in the anatomy of the hand, particularly the impact of strain imposed on the wrist during typing and texting.
Sibani hopes to complete her senior thesis in the animal locomotion lab as well as gain a better understanding of the evolutionary underpinnings of human anatomy as a whole. In her free time, Sibani enjoys going on short runs, reading, and of course — writing |
Denise Shkurovich (Class of 2022)
Denise is a junior on the pre-health track studying both Evolutionary Anthropology and Art History. She is currently looking at how biomechanical constraints imposed by habitual posture and locomotor patterns impact forelimb use across primates. She’s also interested in the intersection of energetics and locomotion. She plays on the club soccer team at Duke and enjoys running, hiking, and making artistic masterpieces with Julia Choi.
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Julia Choi (Class of 2022)
Julia is a junior pursuing a major in Biology with minors in Computer Science and Sociology. She is interested in studying movement with a focus on the intersection between biomechanics and technology. In the future, she hopes to investigate how motion analysis can be used to inform injury prevention techniques in athletes. In her free time, she enjoys running, going to the beach, and spending time with family and friends. Oh, and EPIC high fives.
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Philip Khoury (Class of 2021)
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Philip is a pre-med senior majoring in Evolutionary Anthropology and minoring in Chemistry. He is currently researching the effects of surgical resection and reconstruction of human pelvises on gait mechanics and the insight this provides into the evolutionary ancestry of bone and pelvic morphology. He is also interested in the functional outcome of proximal femur replacements in cancer patients. He works jointly with the Animal Locomotion Laboratory and Duke Orthopedic Sarcoma Clinic. Philip enjoys weightlifting, cycling, surfing, traveling, and is a self-proclaimed foodie.
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Brian is a senior from Los Angeles majoring in Evolutionary Anthropology with a minor in Chemistry on the pre-med track. His senior thesis investigates the differences in patellofemoral joint contact pressures between men and women. In this cadaveric model study, Brian built a frame with a pulley system mimicking individual quadriceps muscles to simulate the knee extensor mechanism on actual cadaver knees at biological Q-angles. The focus of the study is to determine how much of a role the vastus medialis oblique plays in patellar stabilization. The findings of the study will provide more insight as to why patellofemoral pain syndrome is more than twice as common among women than men. It will also provide support as to whether or not selective strengthening of the VMO can alleviate unhealthy patellofemoral contact pressures/more successfully maintain a safer patellar tracking path. For fun, Brian loves playing Duke club basketball, powerlifting, and snowboarding. His interest for biomechanics actually came through injuries from these things.
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Brian Chavez (Class of 2021)
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Jennifer Ling (Class of 2018)
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Jen is an Evolutionary Anthropology major interested in looking at the kinematics of New World Monkey brachiation and anatomy. For her senior thesis project she is looking at how the morphology and anatomy of the wrist in New World Monkeys contribute to the energetic efficiency of brachiation.
Advisor: Angel Zeininger |
Breanna is majoring in Evolutionary Anthropology, minoring in Chemistry and Psychology, and is pre-med. She is interested in the biomechanics of dance. Her senior thesis research focuses on tap dancing; exploring the relationship between years of tap dancing experience and the impact forces and shock waves generated at the foot while tapping. These forces could lead to career-ending bone and joint injuries. This research will help dancers and instructors develop strategies to mitigate injury risks.
Advisor: Daniel Schmitt |
Breanna Polascik (Class of 2018)
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Noor Tasnim (Class of 2018)
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Noor double majors in Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health. His research consists of a comparative analysis of foot morphology between unshod and shod populations from cohorts in Madagascar and the United States, respectively. He is currently examining how these differences in foot shape attribute to differences in gait, vertical ground reaction forces, and the onset of foot and lower limb injuries. Noor presented his findings as an ePoster at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) conference.
Advisors: Daniel Schmitt and Angel Zeininger |
Megan majored in Evolutionary Anthropology. She started by working in the Animal Locomotion lab for two years cataloging our video collection and digitizing joint centers in walking primates and running humans. Megan's senior honors thesis investigated osteoarthritis and gait changes in elderly sifakas.
Advisor: Daniel Schmitt |
Megan Snyder (Class of 2017)
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Christopher Monti (Class of 2017)
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Chris majored in Biochemistry. He is interested in finding micro-structural correlates to tissue stiffness and ultimately ground reaction force loading patterns beneath the hindfoot during walking. For his senior thesis project, Chris investigated the biochemistry of human heel pads. As a continuation of his thesis project, Chris will compare relative concentrations of collagen across the heel pad in a comparative sample of humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas.
Advisor: Angel Zeininger |
Mark majored in Evolutionary Anthropology. He is interested in the connection between human gait and vision. For his senior thesis project, Mark studyed gaze-behaviors in human runners as they ran toward an obstacle. Ultimately, this gaze data will be correlated with EMG data of the lower limb muscles to see when vision begins to influence muscle activation of human runners when navigating obstacles.
Advisor: Roxanne Larsen |
Mark Cullen (Class of 2017)
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Taylor Trentadue (Class of 2016)
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Taylor double majored in Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health. Her research in the Animal Locomotion Laboratory focused on a novel quantitative method for analyzing vertical ground reaction forces using Fourier coefficients. Taylor is interested in understanding how gait mechanics can reflect pathological conditions in the lower extremity. She graduated with with Distinction Honors and her thesis project was entitled "A cross-cultural comparison of gait biomechanics and musculoskeletal health," which sought to describe population-level differences in normal and pathological walking from cohorts in Madagascar and the United States.
Advisor: Daniel Schmitt |