Joshua Townsend, right, a Mechanical Engineering major at UT Martin, is working with Dr. Ali Seyedkavoosi on research into prosthetics | Photo / Joshua Townsend
Joshua Townsend, a sophomore from Middleton, Tennessee, who is majoring in Mechanical Engineering, said his mind has been on engineering since he was a little kid.
“I chose engineering because ever since I was little, I liked to see how things worked. I used to take apart my toys and put them back together,” Townsend said.
He says that in high school, he excelled and enjoyed math and sciences, so he knew he wanted to do something with those passions for his degree choice in college. Townsend chose UT Martin to further his education for many reasons, but the primary reason is that it is close to home and he can visit family on the weekends. His family is something he takes great pride in. He also enjoys that Martin is a small town, which is what he is used to. The small-town feel makes him feel at home.
Last summer, Townsend was asked by one of his professors what he wanted to do with his research. His professor mentioned a few different options for research ideas, one of them being prosthetics. With that being said, Townsend has conducted and presented research about evaluating current methods of upper-extremity prosthetics, specifically for children from 0-8 years old.
Since his first two years of high school, he wanted to do something in the medical field, and now, being an Engineering major, he is able to combine his passion for engineering with the medical field.
When asked if the Latimer-Smith Building has helped in the research process, Townsend said that it has provided more space to conduct the research.
“When I get to designing the prosthetic, I will have a space in the robotics lab. That might not have been an option with the old building,” Townsend said.
This past semester, his research has been focused on evaluating a multitude of design methods for prosthetics, including what method is used for control, the cost, the materials used, 3D print design, and much more. Townsend plans to find the best features from all of the different designs he has looked at and combine them into his own design.
