Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering
428 S. Shaw Lane
Engineering Building, Room 2463
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824
As a faculty member of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Michigan State University (MSU), my goals are: (a) to perform transformative research in the field of soft tissue biomechanics; (b) to offer excellent education to both graduate and undergraduate students, through quality course offerings and student mentoring; (c) to edify the local and broader scientific communities through my effort in re-search and STEM education.
My research focuses broadly on integrating experiments with modeling of the biomechanics of soft tissues. Biomechanics identifies a growing field of science that aims to understand the role played by mechanical stimuli (physical forces and deformations) in biological processes.
First, I aim to quantify experimentally the changes – mechanical, microstructural, and chemical – that can be observed in soft tissues in response to “abnormal” mechanical stimuli, such as increased blood pressure in hypertension, or increased urine storage in type II diabetes. Henceforth, I will refer to this process as adaptive or mal-adaptive remodeling.
Second, I aim to formulate mathematical models to describe and predict adaptive remodeling, my goal is to formulate and implement models that will predict how tissue characteristics change as a function of the mechanical and chemical environment. Specifically, my research focuses on two soft tissues the left ventricle and the urinary bladder.
I was born and raised in Verona (Italy), where my family still lives. I received my B.S. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Trento (Italy). I received my Ph.D. in Structural and Mechanical Engineering from the University of Trento in 2011. I then was a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, working on cardiovascular mechanics. I joined MSU in 2014 as assistant professor and was promoted to the role of associate professor in 2020. I live in East Lansing with my husband, Andrea, and my two amazing Siberian huskies, Mowgli and Leeloo.
Sara Roccabianca, Ph.D.
Mechanical Engineering Department
Michigan State University
College of Engineering
428 S. Shaw Lane, Room 2463
East Lansing, MI 48824-1226
517-432-3185
E-Mail: roccabis@egr.msu.edu
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