Brigitte Potvin

Where do I begin? Every day for me is new and usually pretty exciting. Some days we are running experiments. One of my favourite pieces of equipment we use in the lab is big 2D moving platform that sits on 2 linear motors and moves at high speeds all around our floor depending how I program it. This is where we get people to stand in the middle and try to maintain their balance (they usually fall spectacularly). Don’t worry though, the platform is covered with mats. It’s not everyone who gets to make their bosses fall over repeatedly on purpose at their job! We also use motion capture cameras like they use in movie animations and sensors that can measure your movements and heart rate. We just got an eye tracking system to see where people look when they fall or do other activities. My job is to figure out how to use it and then analyze all the data it’s giving us with computer programming.

On the other hand, this platform system also breaks down quite often so it’s my job to find the problem and fix it, whether it’s a mechanical or electrical issue, or if it’s just because a push pin got wedged under the platform and is making weird noises as it moves. It’s really useful to have some handy-person skills, creativity and problem solving abilities to tackle these challenges!

Another part of my job is to gather information on head impacts in ice hockey. That means I get to go to hockey games every couple of weeks to record videos of the games. I also set up accelerometers (sensors that measure how fast your head is moving) in all the hockey players’ helmets. We sometimes bring the players back to the lab to be our test subjects when we’re working on equipment improvements or trying to make mechanical models of hockey players so we can hit those in all sorts of ways (ethically, we can’t ask the players to hit each other in the head so that we may study concussions).

When I’m not running experiments, I’m usually helping the students in our lab with their projects. A big part of my job is teaching them how to use all the technologies we have access to in the lab. I also help them learn how to analyze their data with different programming tools (like Excel, MatLab or Python) or different software specific to our equipment. We are a biomechanics lab, which means we try to understand how the human body moves in different conditions. Math, physics and mechanics and biology are all important subjects to understand! But it’s hard to know everything all the time, so being able to do a little problem solving is definitely useful! I’m typically the go-to person in our team when someone has a problem that needs a solution. I try to see the different components of a problem, maybe do a little background research, and try to find a few ideas to address my current challenge. If it’s a programming error, chances are there is a missing or extra comma somewhere.

It doesn’t stop there though. Sometimes I’m asked to make nice graphics for presentations, write papers to publish in science journals, or sew some pockets onto a dozen pairs of shorts for experiments. I also organize lab visits for students, interview new lab recruits, manage a team of volunteers, and write grant reports for groups that give us funding. In July 2018 I’ll be attending a conference in Dublin, Ireland. Here I’ll be chatting with and learning from other researchers and technology companies. It’s an exciting place to be working!