August Faculty Spotlight - J.J. Trey Crisco
J.J. Trey Crisco majored in Mathematics and Fine Arts at Amherst College and received his doctorate in Applied Mechanics from Yale University. He joined the Brown faculty in 1995. His work has been primarily funded by the NIH and has resulted in over 165 peer-reviewed publications. He serves on several NIH study sections, editorial boards, and the scientific advisory committees of International Federation of Women's Lacrosse, US Lacrosse and USA Baseball. Prof. Crisco is former Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Biomechanics and President of the American Society of Biomechanics. He has taught Basic Biomechanics and Product Design and Development, a joint effort between Industrial Design Department at RISD and Engineering at Brown University.
Photo Credit: Webb Chappell Photography
1) When did you know you wanted to be a biomedical engineer/researcher?
After I graduated from college with degrees in mathematics and fine arts I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so I started working in an orthotics and prosthetics facility as a technician. That sparked some interest, and after about a year, I decided I to go graduate school in biomedical engineering. I went for my masters and then straight into a PhD program.
2) Of all of the publications you have written, is there one that you are most proud of? Why?
We study three different areas; concussions, wrist biomechanics, and pediatric therapy. In each of those areas there’s a publication that summarized a lot of our work over the years. In our wrist work, we looked at trying to understand wrist motion and it turns out there’s a motion called the dart thrower’s motion used in hammering and ballistics that we discovered has a very unique pattern of motion of the bones, so that was quite novel. In our concussion work, when we published our first study with our football helmet sensors we recorded how often players get hit, how hard, and in what location and that was the first time anyone had quantified that. Then in our pediatric therapy, we published the first paper about game and toy therapies.
3) Did you ever do experiments that didn’t work?
Yes, many, in fact I’m working on one right now. Were trying to track how the wrist moves with total wrist implants using the extron facility at Brown and we’ve had trouble tracking those accurately. We’re still working on that.
4) How do you choose the projects your group works on?
The choice of projects is generally driven most by which would lead to the most significant progress in the field, which we hope also correlates with higher likelihood of getting funding for those projects.
5) What three qualities are most important for ensuring success as a young researcher?
Passion and interest in work
Strong mathematical/engineering background
Sense of humor