After having researched bats in New Guinea, Africa and Central America, head of the interdisciplinary team of the biology department, Elizabeth Dumont, developed an interest in studying the adaptation of bats' physical bodies to chewing and biting behaviors.
Dumont, however, turned to the engineering science department for help when the biology department came to the realization that it could not conduct an accurate analysis alone, as it lacked the adequate tools and appliances to examine small and delicate materials such as bat bones.
To better understand the mechanics of skull structure from eating behavior, Dumont has teamed up with mechanical engineer Ian Grosse for the past two years, using a powerful computer-based system known as Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Such a program enables biologists to obtain a clear picture of a bat skull based on a finite element model (FEM).
Similar to a medical CT scanner, thin slices of the bat's skull are processed layer by layer in a rigid body static analysis enabling researchers to pinpoint the exact location of morphological adaptation on a "free body diagram." Once the position is recorded in a systematic coordinate system, the three-dimensional representations are imported for finite elemental modeling. Biologists can then interpret the results of the finite element analyses to predict deformation in bat skull structure.
The finite element model has become one of the most widely practiced techniques of engineering analysis in the world. It has been particularly revolutionary in reconstructing three-dimensional images of free-form organic shapes of biological structures, which were incompatible with former FE or CAD software in the past.
Both departments at UMass feel that they have gained much knowledge from the recent collaboration. At first, Dumont expressed difficulty on a communication level. "The [biology and engineering departments] were speaking two different languages." As the project progressed, however, both teams realized the immense value of sharing new information to gain new insight. Dumont hopes that other departments can learn from the success of such a collaboration and apply it in their personal departmental studies in the future.