Wearable Technology: Developing a Skin-Like Temperature Sensor; Oil Painting Conservation: How Material Choices Reflect the Ethnical Thought in Conservation

The development of wearable sensors as well as new conservation techniques rely heavily on material science and understanding the properties of different materials. For the technical project a wearable sensor will be developed for measuring the strain in large muscle groups. The motivation behind the project is to optimize sensor design by altering the design as well as materials. For the STS thesis an examination will be conducted of how codes of ethics influence material choices in the world of conservation. The goal of this paper is to understand how different societal ideals impact material choice.

The Technical thesis will focus on optimizing the design of a wearable biosensor. Several designs for the sensor will be considered and then the sensor will be fabricated. Specific emphasis will be placed on the fabrication process, especially determining how to best print the sensor. A 3D mold will be used as well as laser printing. Following the fabrication process mechanical testing will be performed on the sensor to determine the effectiveness of the design.

The STS paper will focus on the ethics surrounding oil painting conservation, focusing specifically on the different regulations that govern conservators as well as how ideas surrounding intellectual property influence material choice in conservation. Specifically, the line where intellectual property wins over conservation efforts will be determined. This line represents the balance between where painting conservation becomes more important than preserving the intellectual property of the original author. The STS theories of risk society and social constructs of technology shall be utilized, risk society shall be used to analyze material choices and the social construction of technology shall be used to analyze the legal codes. It is hypothesized that the legal codes will focus more heavily on preserving the intellectual property of the original painting which will heavily be reflected in the material choices surrounding conservation.

Overall it is vital that the STS Thesis and the Technical Thesis be conducted simultaneously. The world of skin like sensors and conservation are very small fields that are deeply reliant on material design. Conducting an analysis of how ethics conservation impact material design will provide context onto how societal pressures impact material design choice. This too can be applied to the world of wearable sensors. Furthermore, both conservation and design of bio sensors require low risk materials. In the case of conservation, the materials should not impact the oil painting and in the case of biosensors the materials should not have any effects on the skin. These strict design requirements are common across both projects. In summary, the STS thesis will add to the work being conducted in the Technical thesis by providing context about societal expectations.

School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Technical Advisor: Baoxing Xu
STS Advisor: Bryn Seabrook
Technical Team Members: Sean Donley, Emily Gresnick, Noah Klipp, Georgia White