School of Engineering

Robert L. Spilker
Professor
http://www.rpi.edu/~spilker/

Department Affiliation:

Department of Mechanical, Aerospace & Nuclear Engineering
Department of Biomedical Engineering

Education:

Sc.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Aeronautical Engineering

M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Aeronautical Engineering

B.S., University of Illinois
Aeronautical Engineering

Background:

Robert L. Spilker received his undergraduate training in the Department of Aeronautics, University of Illinois, B.S. 1971, and his graduate training in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M.S. 1972, Sc.D. 1974. After spending two years as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Spilker joined the faculty of the Department of Civil Engineering, Mechanics, and Metallurgy at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1976. In 1984, he joined the faculty of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as Professor of Computational Mechanics, and served as Chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department from 1994 - 2004.

He is a member of a number of professional societies including the Biomedical Engineering Society, American Society of Mechanical Engineering, Orthopedic Research Society, and American Society for Engineering Education, and has served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Bioengineering Division of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and the US National Committee of Biomechanics. He is on the Editorial Advisory Board of several journals in the areas of bioengineering and computational mechanics. Dr. Spilker is a Fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society (Inaugural Class), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering."

Read More: http://www.rpi.edu/~spilker/

Research Interests:

Understanding human physiology at all levels will require that biological and bioengineering approaches be integrated to characterize and quantify physiological function. Mathematical models will provide the framework for quantification of behavior, and because human physiology is inherently complicated, will be too complex for simple solutions. The scales of physiology are linked (from organ to tissue to cell to molecule &) and they involve, among other factors, biomechanical, biochemical, and bioelectrical behaviors. Because of this multiscale and mathematical complexity, computational methods are required to provide accurate numerical solutions to the mathematical models. The development of these computational tools is the foundation of our research program.

Our research is aimed at developing computational methods and computer simulation tools that are based on realistic and validated mathematical models of human physiology. Our current focus is on modeling the biomechanical behavior of soft tissues such as articular cartilage, meniscus and intervertebral discs in the musculoskeletal system. We use multiphase continuum mathematical models to represent the tissues, and our methods are aimed at understanding the loads, deformation and fluid flow in tissues in human joints. Some specific projects include: modeling the nonlinear behavior of soft tissues in human joints; solving three-dimensional contact of soft tissues using penetration-based methods and full contact methods; modeling of cells using multiphase models; coupling of tissue and cellular responses.

Our long-range plans involve coupling biomechanical behaviors with biochemical, bioelectric and biotransport phenomena for broader classes of tissues, and to represent cellular behaviors, and coupling both the biophysical phenomena and the physiological scales.