One of my favorite projects that I worked on as a CIB undergraduate research intern was a project related to reducing drunk driving accidents. For the project, we wanted to see if we could use transdermal (i.e. through skin) alcohol sensors to detect alcohol in a person's blood stream. If possible to detect, transdermal alcohol sensors could then be used as a non-invasive device that could installed in cars, for example in a steering wheel, to help detect drunk drivers thus reducing drunk driving incidences.
My job as an undergraduate research intern involved assistance with experimental protocols, experimental data collection, and some data analysis. The experiments that we conducted involved having human volunteers drink specified amounts of alcoholic
drinks and then measuring their intoxication level with transdermal alcohol sensors, as well as with the more commonly used breath alcohol sensors (aka breathalyzers). Data analysis, which was primarily done with MATLAB, involved comparing the measurements collected from both devices, looking at the accuracy of measurements, as well as any time lags. Needless to say, this was a very unique experimental experience for me as an undergraduate student!
From this study, we concluded that while transdermal alcohol sensors measure alcohol levels just as accurately as breathalyzers, there was an average of a 30 minute time lag of when the transdermal sensors would detect the equivalent alcohol level as the breathalyzers. Overall, this project was a very interesting and educational experience, and it offered me multiple opportunities to experience research presentations. I presented my work on this project during a summer research symposium at Virginia Tech in 2008, at the Biomedical Engineering Society 2011 Annual Conference in Hartford, CT, as well as during a number of lab/departmental tours. I genuinely believe this was the project that convinced me of how cool research can be.
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View my LinkedIn profileCurriculum Vitae | Stephanie M. Kusano | skusano@vt.edu