Doctoral students crowded the Raisler Lounge for Sydney Acosta’s talk Thursday, December 5th. There, Acosta discussed Multiferroic MEMS Magnetic Field Sensors for Biomedical Applications, fielding a wide range of questions from captivated scholars.
Throughout the talk, Acosta explained that the human body produces magnetic fields wherever ion exchange occurs. Detecting these pico-Tesla level magnetic fields enables non-invasive monitoring of brain and heart health, but medical-grade sensing methods require large equipment with high power consumption. From there, Acosta provided a detailed solution using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) composed of a magnetostrictive and piezoelectric material. After providing an introduction to the sensor design and operation, Acosta discussed the design process, electrical and magnetic characterization, and results.
Sydney Acosta is a fifth-year Ph.D. student under the guidance of Professor Troy Olsson. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Purdue University in 2020. Her research interests include the design and development of multiferroic microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors for biomedical applications. She is a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellow.