Reinventing Safety: Helmets, AM Tech, and Blunt Trauma

What this episode covers

Dr. Scott Piland, Professor and Director of the School of Kinesiology & Nutrition at the University of Southern Mississippi, discusses how additive manufacturing (AM) is revolutionizing athlete safety and sports equipment design. He explains his transition from athletic training to polymer science and details how AM enables the creation of novel, custom-fit protective gear like helmets and mouth guards that traditional manufacturing cannot easily produce. Piland highlights the challenges of mitigating blunt trauma and concussions, emphasizing the need for multidisciplinary collaboration to bridge the gap between clinical needs and material engineering.