Research In Action

Moderator's note: Marissa Teitelbaum was recently named as the recipient of the University of Pennsylvania 2025 Engineering Alumni Society E. Stuart Eichert, Jr. Award. This prestigious student award is given annually by the Engineering Alumni Society to that student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science who, during his or her junior year, best exemplifies the characteristics of selfless service to the University and the Community. In the following blog post, Marissa reflects on her summer Research Experiences in Undergraduate (REU) work at CIRP with mentor Jalaj Maheshwari, who, along with Tom Seacrist and Flaura Winston, nominated her for this award. 

One of the highlights of being an engineering student is learning the principles that describe the world, but most importantly, applying this knowledge to make a positive impact. Nearly my entire life, I have wanted to be an engineer so that I could create things that help people. 

Since high school, my research has focused on different aspects of childhood safety, ranging from monkey bars to pill containers. While working on a project on bicycle handlebar safety, I reached out to Dr. Flaura Winston to ask for advice regarding my methodology and representation of the human abdomen. My project redesigned a bicycle’s handlebar to increase the surface area, thus decreasing the impact on a child’s abdomen during a fall. At her suggestion, I used a ballistic gelatin which more realistically simulated the impact to a human body and improved the validity of my findings. 

These experiences, along with my advisor Dr. Kevin Turner’s encouragement, led me to apply to the highly competitive Research Experience Undergraduates (REU) program at CHOP while attending the University of Pennsylvania. My summer research project, conducted with my mentor Jalaj Maheshwari, assessed naturalistically booster seated pediatric occupant kinetics and kinematic responses during side impacts using Finite Element Analysis. The aim of this project was to improve the safety of children seated in car seats during a collision. 

My abstract describing nearside collision data was accepted to the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM) 2025 conference, and manuscript development for publication for all cases is underway. The hope is that this data will help to inform car seat redesign in conjunction with possible changes to side curtain airbags in cars to help reduce significant injury to pediatric occupants during a crash.

My REU experience opened my eyes to the world of more professional research and motivated me to take a different approach to my plan for higher education. Based on my research and conversations with REU mentors and colleagues, I now plan pursue a PhD after I finish my undergraduate degree. 

My REU experience also impacted my current activities as an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. One of my passions is the Penn Electric Racing undergraduate club. Each year, the team of around 100 students designs, builds, tests, and competes a Formula 1 style electric race car. My research experience from REU helped shape my mindset as we redesigned our car this year; I looked at the car with a different lens and specifically focused on the safety of the team during both driving and construction. 

My lifelong mission has been to try to make the community a better place through innovation, learning and understanding, and I believe I'm on the right track to getting there through all the support I have received through my various mentors at CHOP and beyond.