Christian Grant didn’t just design a project for his senior class; he built a device that could help train future surgeons. 
 

A biomedical engineering student at UTA, Grant, and his team are developing a training tool as part of their 4355 Senior Design course at the FabLab. The device measures the force a surgeon applies when using a mallet and a surgical chisel. It’s a skill that usually takes years to learn by feel. Their goal is to make that learning process more precise and measurable. 

“At the center of the device is this strike rod,” Grant said. “When the mallet hits the end of the strike rod, a load cell inside captures the force, so you can actually measure how much is being applied.” 

That kind of feedback can make a real difference. In procedures involving bone, especially for patients with lower bone density, precision matters.  

“Once you make a cut into bone, you can’t take it back,” Grant said. “So, understanding how much force is appropriate is really important.” 

The idea didn’t come from a textbook; it came from experience. Through a clinical immersion program, Grant spent time at Texas Back Institute in Plano, working alongside surgeons and observing procedures up close.  
 

“You get to be shoulder-to-shoulder with surgeons all day and see their day-to-day,” Grant said. “You don’t really think about the other side of being a patient unless you’re a doctor. It was a really eye-opening perspective.” 

 
That experience shaped the project. Grant and his teammates, Jerome Dales, Lauren Lieu, and Navita Sunil, set out to solve a real problem they saw in the field.  

 
“You go through and look for challenges in the medical environment that can be solved through engineering solutions,” Grant said. “That’s the basis of the project.” 

From there, the design took shape. Inspired by surgical tools already used in operating rooms, the team focused on creating something that would feel familiar and intuitive.  

 
“I wanted to make it as similar as possible to what they’d actually be using,” Grant said. “Make it long and thin so it fits in the hand ergonomically and doesn’t distract from what they’re doing.” 

 
But designing something in CAD is one thing; actually, making it is another. 

That’s where UTA Libraries came in. 

 
To fabricate the strike rod, Grant needed access to a CNC lathe. Inside the Libraries’ FabLab, he found the equipment and the support to make it happen. 

Eric Olson, FabLab Technician, worked closely with him throughout the process. Olson shared that Grant came in with strong design skills but limited experience in metalworking and precision machining. 

 
“He has lots of experience doing manual woodworking, but had none with metalworking or precision tools,” Olson said. “So, it took a fair amount of training and guidance to get the concepts to start making sense and transform from a design to a physical object.” 

For Olson, seeing students succeed in that environment is the goal. 

 
“We are the main, and sometimes only, place on campus where you have a chance to actively learn the problem-solving and lateral thinking skills that not just jobs, but life in general, demand from a person now,” Olson said. “Lecture has its place, but learning by doing has always been much more effective in teaching how to evaluate a situation critically and think your way through it.” 

 
Olson pointed out that those skills cut across disciplines, not just engineering. Students from any major can walk in, learn a tool, and leave with something they built themselves.  

 
“I think it’s an excellent project,” Olson said. “One of the biggest issues hiring managers have with new grads is that they only know how to do math; they’ve never actually made anything.” 

That gap, Olson explained, is where hands-on work becomes important.  

 
“Completing design projects that create real items applicable in your field gives you resume gold, full stop,” Olson said. “Hiring teams want to know what you can actually do when given a task, not just whether you can do calculus. It’s about whether you can handle competing design decisions in an intelligent and cost-conscious manner and do it on time.” 

 
Inside the FabLab, Grant experienced that process firsthand. Working with 1018 cold-rolled carbon steel, he spent about five hours machining the strike rod.  

 
“For a skilled machinist, it’s probably a lot faster,” Grant said. “I was definitely taking my time with this.” 

 
That time became part of the learning experience. 

 
“These are lifelong skills,” Grant said. “As an engineer, it’s important to be familiar with the types of machines that are out there. If you’re designing something, you want to make sure it can actually be made. Understanding how a machine works makes me a better engineer.” 

 
Grant also credits the mentorship that helped him get there.  

“Eric was super helpful,” Grant said. “He gave me a lot of insight. He’s a really experienced machinist. Someday I hope I’ll be the same.” 

 
That back-and-forth between students and staff is what gives the space its impact. It is not just access to machines or tools, but guidance that helps students connect design to execution. 

 
Grant and his team will present their project soon, with plans to possibly pursue a patent. 

 
For now, the focus is on what they’ve built and what it represents, an idea shaped by experience, strengthened through collaboration, and brought to life with the support of UTA Libraries.