Aspire Program 2/27/2023 

Bringing inspiration and experience to high school students 

The Aspire Program, part of QUT (Queensland University of Technology)’s STEM Immersion Program has had several students visit the centre in the past year to gain an understanding of the possibilities in the field of Biomechanics. The ASPIRE (Applied STEM Projects for Immersive Real-world Education) aims to help students understand the importance and opportunities of STEM skills and to inspire the next generation of leaders. It achieves this by building the confidence of students with an aptitude for STEM through a mini hands-on project with researcher mentors. The collaboration with Mabel Park High School is of further significance to the diversity and outreach goals of the University as the school has a high proportion of indigenous students, which we believe have immense potential for success in the STEM field.  

Zac from Mabel Park State High School stopped by in early February under the mentorship of our postdocs Dr Maxence Lavaill and Dr Dermot O’Rourke to investigate an exploratory biomechanical model to improve patient care. Over the term Zac and his colleagues learned biomechanical concepts and the role of a biomechanical engineer in orthopaedics. This was taught using a scenario-based approach, to go through the variety of tools that are used by engineers to improve patient outcomes, including motion capture lab, musculoskeletal modelling, medical image segmentation and finite element analysis.  

This was an educational opportunity for Zac to work with advanced programs while still in high school, to assist him to make career decisions and to provide a head start for any further interest in the biomechanics field.  

We wish all the Mabel Park students success this year as they participate in our BIOTech Futures program in semester 1.