Tools of the trade

Drew Sayer

Courtney Rowland

Jeongho Han

Second-degree nursing students and sim man
Researchers within the College of Health and Human Sciences often maintain that cutting edge through the machines they employ. Here are four examples used today that look downright futuristic.

Drew Sayer (first, left), a graduate student in nutrition science, gets a precise measurement of his body composition inside the BOD POD. Sayer works with Wayne Campbell, professor of nutrition science, who investigates the health benefits of diet and exercise.

Courtney Rowland (second down, left), a senior in speech, language, and hearing sciences, appears to have her thinking cap on. It's actually an event-related potentials technique that records electrical signals coming from the brain in response to different stimuli. "It can be a picture or word she's responding to," says Natalya Kaganovich, assistant professor of speech, language, and hearing sciences with a quarter-time appointment in psychological sciences. "This technique allows us to see what the brain is doing on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis."

Jeongho Han (third down, left), a graduate student in consumer sciences and retailing, is sporting the Tobii eye-tracker, now being used in consumer science classes to better understand what makes information attention-catching. It films what the wearer sees, tracking what the pupil lands on. Researchers in consumer sciences and retailing, such as Sugato Chakravarty, department head and professor, and Meghan Norris, assistant professor, are also using the eye-tracker to investigate what people tend to look at as they navigate their environments.

Purdue second-degree nursing students (bottom) gather round the Laerdal Sim Man, under the supervision of Kit Sebrey Schafer, clinical associate professor of nursing. Sim Man is one of several School of Nursing high-fidelity simulators, most of which have voices, pulses, programmable vital signs and heart, lung and bowel sounds. Students are video recorded while performing nursing care for their simulated patient. The debriefing process guided by faculty has been shown to enhance critical thinking and clinical decision making.


 

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Bod pod Thinking cap Eye Tracker India
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