Florida State student wins regional Three Minute Thesis competition

Aniket Ingrole's thesis topic was the creation of improved, concussion-reducing helmets for football players.
Aniket Ingrole's thesis topic was the creation of improved, concussion-reducing helmets for football players. | Contributed photo
Aniket Ingrole, an Florida State University Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering student, was recently named a winner in the Three Minute Thesis competition, which was held through the yearly Conference of Southern Graduate Schools.

The competition encourages students to use their complete thesis in a practical and real-life setting, therefore making their innovations understandable to individuals who have not attained an education in the area of the thesis.

Ingrole's thesis topic was the creation of improved, concussion-reducing helmets for football players, going by the title, "Bio-Inspired Structures for Custom Manufacturing of Safer Helmets."

Winning the award for his ability to explain the concepts, Ingrole told the audience that studying nature and the biology of animals who are used to head impacts, such as rams and woodpeckers, was the key to developing improved helmets. Through the technology of 3-D printing, Ingrole was able to visualize the animals' physiological makeup and apply it to humans taking part in high-impact sports, such as football.

“I feel proud to have represented FSU in a regional competition,” Ingrole said, “Getting an opportunity to explain your research and its importance to everyone is rare, especially at this level."