BANGOR, Maine — The Maine College of Engineering and Computing at the University of Maine is collaborating with students at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor on groundbreaking research on ways to prevent and treat vision loss from glaucoma.
“How can we have more people maintain their vision? So, this is a big problem that requires many disciplines to come together to try to find an effective solution,” Giovanna Guidoboni, dean of the Maine College of Engineering and Computing, said.
Students and faculty at the Maine College of Engineering and Computing are working together on new research—combining engineering, math, and data analysis.
“Ideally we would be able to understand more about glaucoma progression, its causes, and more importantly, what can we do to help mitigate that and preserve people's quality of life?” Mary Wisell, a computer science student at UMaine, explained.
The school is working with leaders in the industry, like Dr. Alon Harris, professor of ophthalmology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, to try to identify risk factors for glaucoma and develop new treatments.
“I think that ultimately the winners are the patients,” Harris said.
The Maine College of Engineering and Computing is working with students at John Bapst to bring the research to life.
“We've not only learned about real world techniques on how to grow as engineers and how to research, but we've also met so many new people at UMaine and we've learned new techniques,” Giuseppe Aulisa, a junior at John Bapst, said.
After spending a semester researching in class, Aulisa and fellow students Logan Hart and Ethan Marquis collaborated with UMaine to create a physical model of their work, testing the blood flow rate in the eye at different pressures.
“Apparently no one has really done this kind of simulation or model in that field before,” Mike Murphy, department chair of the Engineering and Technology Department at John Bapst, said.
This month, the students went to Seattle to present their research at The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, a global ophthalmology conference.
As the only high schoolers there, the team was nervous at first. But they quickly got comfortable sharing their work.
“The experience was amazing, there were so many intelligent people,” Hart said. “And speaking with those people just took our knowledge to the next level, and also gave us more ideas to do with our project.”
Working on this project has gotten the students interested in pursuing engineering and ophthalmology, like Marquis, who wants to major in biomedical engineering in college.
“Getting to really be an engineer and do high level engineering in high school gives me a greater look at what I'll be hopefully doing in the future,” Marquis said.
The collaboration between UMaine and John Bapst is part of UMS TRANSFORMS, a project that focuses on helping young people succeed and prepare for their careers.
“It is our mission to continue to inspire young minds and the next generations,” Guidoboni said. “To feel like that can address these problems, because they will be part of the solution.”
Even though it’s summer break for UMaine, the research never stops.