Hierarchical Systems

Summary of Courses

BIO 149: Comparative Biomechanics
BIO 149 addresses the structure and operation of organisms in relation to quantitative mechanics of solids and fluids.

MEMS 166: Constructal Theory and Design
This is a revolutionary course on the purposeful development of flow structure in nature and engineering. The principle is the struggle between objective and constraints, the geometry of the flow system is free to change, and the result is flow architecture that keeps on changing and improving, defining design.

MEMS 231: Adaptive Structures: Dynamics and Control
This course provides an introduction to the concept of adaptive structures. Methods of modeling and designing structures which respond to their environment through the integration of distributed sensors, actuators and control laws are developed. The student gains a perspective on the importance of understanding the fundamental physics associated with the intended application.

BME 231: Intermediate Biomechanics
This course introduces students to fundamental concepts in the mechanics of materials with relevance to topics including biomechanics, biomimetics, tissue engineering and cell mechanics. Emphasis is placed on static analysis; definitions of energy, stress, strain and conservation principles; failure and fatigue analyses; and concepts of pseudoelasticity, anisotropy, prestress, viscoelasticity and poroelasticity.

BME 230: Tissue Mechanics
This advanced course extends the topics introduced in BME 231 with in-depth study of the principles of continuum mechanics for the study of biofluids and biosolid systems. Topics to be covered include tensor calculus, curvilinear coordinate and transformation laws, objectivity, motion of a continua, definitions of stress and strain, constitutive law development and conservation principles.