Introduction + Welcome!
Hi, my name’s Francis Sampson! I am a 1st-year Master of Science student in the Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science (MEMS) department at Duke University. I am pursuing a concentration in Multi-Scale, Advanced, and Bio-Inspired Materials with a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence for Materials.
My academic interests lie at the intersection of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. More specifically, I’ve explored research with nano- and micro-scale technologies and have worked on design projects centering statics and dynamics.
I am currently an M.S. researcher in the Gall Group at Duke University. I am working with other Ph.D. students in the group to 3D print cylindrical and spherical lattice structures via different methods. We then conduct a series of mechanical tests to understand the properties of the lattice structures and determine the parameters needed for developing a machine learning model.
ThroatWorm: A Novel Endoscopy Robot Using Shape-Memory Alloy Locomotion
As part of the M.S. MEMS Capstone Course, I worked on a team of 3 mechanical engineers on a design project. Our project was centered around biomedical applications and robotics. Our goal was to create a soft robot that utilized shape-memory alloys to move in an inchworm-like motion. The end goal was that a trained oncologist would be able to use our design to conduct small-scale biopsies at tumor sites in the throat.
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Educational History
B.S. Mechanical Engineering, African and African-American Studies Minor | Rice University – May 2023
M.S. Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, AI in Materials Certificate | Duke University – December 2024
