June 20, 2023
Rawnaque passes comprehensive exam
Congrats to Ferdousi on passing her comprehensive exam! She’s now officially a PhD Candidate!
June 15, 2023
Rokni defends dissertation
Eric successfully defended his dissertation and became Dr. Eric Rokni. Congratulations, Doc Roc! We wish you all the best as you move to becoming a Visiting Professor at Rollins College in sunny Florida!
May 25, 2023
Wood passes qualifying exam
Great job to Grace Wood for passing her qualifying exam! She’s happy to be qualified and overcoming the first major hurdle towards her degree.
May 10, 2023
Simon wins the R. Bruce Lindsay Award
BASiL PI Julianna Simon won the prestigious Acoustical Society of America R. Bruce Lindsay Award for “contributions to the understanding of ultrasound-induced mechanical bioeffects and their clinical applications.”
May 8-12, 2023
BASiL attends ASA Chicago
Dr. Simon, Eric, Jake, Ferdousi, and Laura attend and present their great work at ASA in Chicago.
April 17-20, 2023
Simon and Elliott present at ISTU
Dr. Simon and Jake presented posters at the International Symposium on Therapeutic Ultrasound (ISTU) in Lyon, France! It was a beautiful city and venue, with great discussions on moving the work forward.
April 12, 2023
Brownstead wins 3rd Place at CERS
Laura was awarded 3rd place oral presentation at the Penn State College of Engineering Research Symposium in “Intersection of Mechanics in Medicine”! Great job, Laura, continuing the BASiL presence at CERS!
October 10-13, 2022
Rokni and Smallcomb present at IEEE IUS
Eric and Molly presented at IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium in Venice, Italy! Their first time at IEEE, they enjoyed attending an international conference!
September 21, 2022
BASiL awarded NIH R01 for tendon histotripsy
PI Dr. Julianna Simon and the BASiL lab was awarded an NIH R01 from NIBIB to continue the tendon histotripsy project in collaboration with Dr. Vidt’s MUSL lab. This 4-year, $2.2M project will uncover more of the fundamental physics of cavitation in collagenous tissues as it works to transition into a larger animal tendinopathy model.
August 11, 2022
Elliott passes comprehensive exam
Jake successfully passed his comprehensive exam! He’s now one step closer to his PhD!
July 5, 2022
Wood joins the lab
BASiL welcomes new member, Grace Wood, to the lab! She will be joining as a PhD student. Grace received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Hartford in 2022 in Acoustical Engineering & Music.
June 14, 2022
Smallcomb defends dissertation
Molly defended her dissertation and became Dr. Molly Smallcomb! Way to go Dr. Smallcomb!
June 10, 2022
Simon, Smallcomb and Rawnaque attend ISTU
Dr. Simon, Molly, and Ferdousi presented at the International Society for Therapeutic Ultrasound 2022 Symposium in Toronto, Canada.
May 28, 2022
BASiL presents at ASA Denver
Molly, Eric, Jake, Ferdousi, and Fea on behalf of Lucas presented at 182nd Acoustical Society of America Meeting in Denver, Colorado.
April 12, 2022
BASiLisks turn up the heat to 2000 degrees!
Taking a break from the lab, BASiL took a lab trip to 2000 Degrees here in State College to paint pottery and let the creative juices flow!
April 6, 2022
Rawnaque and Rokni place at CERS 2022
Eric, Ferdousi, and Fea presented at the 2022 College of Engineering Research Seminar and Eric placed 1st place in the Materials and Mechanics Oral Presentation section and Ferdousi placed 1st place in the morning poster session. Great job guys!
December 3, 2021
BASiL attends ASA Seattle
Ferdousi (pictured below), Eric, Molly, Jake, and Dr. Simon on behalf of Lucas presented at the 181st Acoustical Society of America meeting in Seattle, Washington.
September 16, 2021
Rokni and Elliott present at IEEE IUS
Eric and Jake presented their research at IEEE’s 2021 International Ultrasonics Symposium, which again due to the pandemic was virtual. The rest of the lab was also in attendance to learn about the current research in the field and support Eric and Jake!
July 21, 2021
Simon and Rokni featured in Penn State News
A recent article involving BASiL research was featured on Penn State News! Dr. Simon and Eric Rokni, along with collaborators Scott Medina (Medina Group) and Keefe Manning (Artificial Heart & Cardiovascular Fluid Dynamics Lab) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, are involved in this exciting new deep vein thrombosis imaging technology that has also shown potential for blood clot treatment. The article can be found here!
July 1, 2021
Morgan-Curtis joins lab
BASiL welcomes new member, Fea Morgan-Curtis, to the lab! She will be joining as a Masters student. Fea received her bachelor’s degree at Belmont University in 2020 in audio engineering & physics.
June 28, 2021
Rawnaque passes qualifying exam
Great job to Ferdousi Rawnaque for passing her qualifying exam! She’s happy to be qualified and making the first step towards her degree.
June 11, 2021
BASiLisks present at summer 2021 conferences
BASiL members stayed active with the research community by attending and presenting at two conferences over the month of June. Dr. Simon, Molly, Eric, and Jake presented at the 180th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America – “Acoustics in Focus” – and Molly and Jake presented at the 20th Annual International Symposium for Therapeutic Ultrasound.
June 4, 2021
Rokni passes comprehensive exam
Congrats to Eric on passing his comprehensive exam! One step further toward a PhD degree.
April 29, 2021
GAME NIGHT
To provide some relief for end of the year stress, BASiL started up a new monthly game night tradition! They started with a competitive game of Codenames and then switched to the artistic game Dixit where many images of bubbles were found! They’re excited to play games in person soon!
April 17, 2021
Smallcomb and Elliott publish paper for BASiL
The paper written by Molly Smallcomb, along with co-authors Jacob Elliott, Sujata Khandare, Ali Butt, Meghan Vidt and Julianna Simon, “Focused ultrasound mechanical disruption of ex vivo rat tendon” was officially accepted and published in IEEE Transaction on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control. Congrats to the authors!
April 14, 2021
Elliott places in CERS student poster competition
Jake Elliott placed 2nd at the College of Engineering Research Symposium hosted online by Penn State, winning prize money for his success! Congrats on the accomplishment!
January 13, 2021
Rokni and Zinck publish first major paper for BASiL
The paper written by Eric Rokni, along with co-authors Scott Zinck and Julianna Simon, “Evaluation of stone features that cause the color Doppler ultrasound twinkling artifact” was officially accepted and published in Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology. Congrats to the authors!
December 18, 2020
BASiL keeps busy with virtual conferences
Members of BASiL stayed busy this past semester, despite the pandemic, with attendance to many virtual conferences. Jake, Eric, and Molly presented at the 179th Meeting of Acoustical Society of America. Eric and Molly presented at the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, which Jake also attended. Molly presented at the 7th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound, which Jake and Eric also attended.
December 11, 2020
Ruge-Jones joins BASiL
Welcome new member, Lucas Ruge-Jones, to BASiL! He will be pursuing an MS in Acoustics at Penn State. Lucas received his bachelor’s degree at Luther College in 2019 in physics.
November 2, 2020
Elliott places in CAV Student Poster Competition
Jake Elliott placed in the top 3 posters at the Center for Acoustics and Vibration 2020 virtual workshop hosted by Penn State, winning prize money for his success! His poster was titled “Passive cavitation imaging of focused ultrasound in an elastic phantom”. You can find the iPoster online here.
September 1, 2020
Rawnaque joins BASiL
BASiL welcomes new member, Ferdousi Rawnaque! She will be pursuing a PhD in Acoustics here at Penn State. Ferdousi completed her B.Sc. in Applied Physics from University of Dhaka and her M.S. in Electrical Engineering at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
July 27, 2020
Fore!!!!!!!!
BASiL teed up for some socially distanced sun n’ fun this summer. It was nice to be able to enjoy the outdoors and each other’s company. They started with mini golf, then graduated to 3-par golf. Next summer, they’re hoping to visit Penn State’s prestigious golf course!
June 22, 2020
Elliott passes qualifying exam
Well done to Jake Elliott for passing his qualifying exam! Jake recently changed his degree to pursue a PhD in Acoustics. He is glad to have made the first step towards his new degree.
June 17, 2020
Smallcomb passes comprehensive exam
Congrats to Molly for passing her comprehensive exam, another step toward her PhD degree!
May 9, 2020
Congrats to Deichert for graduating!
Marisa Deichert received her BS from Penn State as a Schreyer Honors Scholar in Biomedical Engineering. She will be joining Philips Ultrasound as a Reliability Engineer. Congrats from the lab! 
April 17, 2020
Smallcomb publishes in POMA
Molly Smallcomb, along with co-author Julianna Simon, published their paper titled “Histotripsy in collagenous tissue” in Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics from work presented at the December 2020 Acoustical Society of America conference. Congrats to Molly on her first manuscript submission!
March 31, 2020
Rokni Receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Eric Rokni has been selected for the 2020 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The fellowship will financially support him for a three-year period as he continues his doctorate at Penn State with BASiL. Read more about this accomplishment here. Congrats on this elite recognition, Eric!
March 9, 2020
Simon Receives NSF CAREER Award
Dr. Julianna Simon just received the prestigious 5-year NSF CAREER grant! BASiL will now study where bubble nuclei for acoustic cavitation exist in tissues; how their distribution is influenced by disease; and how ultrasound can be optimized to detect acoustically cavitated bubble nuclei. In collaboration with Penn State Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS), they will also be making a Blue Box activity kit for middle school students to investigate ultrasonic detection of minerals. Stay tuned for exciting results and fun outreach pictures!
December 7, 2019
BASiL presents at 178th ASA conference in San Diego, CA
Eric (second from left), Molly (second from right), and Dr. Juli Simon attended and presented at the Acoustical Society of America conference at the Hotel del Coronado during Dec. 2-6. Eric presented in the Biomedical Acoustics session New Frontiers in Doppler Ultrasound on “Color Doppler ultrasound twinkling in pathological biomineralizations”. Dr. Simon co-chaired the sessions on Cavitation Bioeffects, which she also presented on “Microbubbles on kidney stones contribute to the twinkling artifact in humans” and Molly presented on “Histotripsy in collagenous tendons”. Eric also co-chaired a Grants and Fellowships panel and invited Molly to speak on her experience with the NSF GRFP! The week was also filled with other fun activities, like yoga on the beach and Christmas in (rainy) paradise.
November 1, 2019
Smallcomb successfully defends Masters Thesis
Molly finished up her thesis and was approved to graduate with a Masters this fall! Her thesis was titled “Focused ultrasound histotripsy of connective tissue: a tendon model”. Congratulations! She will be continuing her PhD studies with Dr. Simon and BASiL.
October 25, 2019
BASiL gets shout-out from Penn State News
Molly was recently interviewed by Penn State about her experience in the Graduate Program in Acoustics, and it was featured in the Penn State News. Check it out here! The article touched base on some of her research with Dr. Simon and BASiL, and it even got recognition from the Focused Ultrasound Foundation on LinkedIn!
August 8, 2019
Elliott joins BASiL
BASiL welcomes new member Jake Elliott! He will be pursuing an MS in Acoustics here at Penn State. Jake comes from Rochester, NY, and received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University. He’s excited to be a part of the team!
May 20, 2019
BASiL attends ASA conference in Louisville, KY
BASiL members Molly, Eric, and Dr. Simon attended and presented at the 177th meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Lousiville, KY during the week of May 13-17. Molly’s talk was titled “Investigation into tendon histotripsy”, Eric’s presentation was on “The effect of crystal composition on the color Doppler twinking artifact”, and Dr. Simon presented Scott’s work about the “Etiology of the color Doppler twinkling artifact on kidney stones”. The week was filled with good sessions, whiskey, and company. Eric also performed cello with his Penn State Acoustics band at the ASA Jam!
May 9, 2019
Recipient of National Institutes of Health Grant
BASiL and MUSL just received an NIH NIBIB R21 Trailblazer to continue exploring histotripsy in collagenous tissues using tendon as a model. We look forward to continuing the work started with the Penn State College of Engineering Seed Grant!
May 8, 2019
BASiL Sweeps CAV Student Poster Award
BASiL graduate students Eric Rokni and Molly Smallcomb both placed in the top three student poster competitors at the Center for Acoustics and Vibration Spring Workshop hosted at Penn State. Way to represent BASiL!
April 9, 2019
Smallcomb Receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
BASiL’s graduate student, Molly Smallcomb, has been selected for the 2019 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. The fellowship will provide financial support for the next three years as she continues her PhD at Penn State. Congrats on the national accomplishment!
January 10, 2019
Recipient of the 2019 Penn State College of Engineering Multidisciplinary Seed Grant
Along with the labs of Dr. Scott Medina and Dr. Keefe Manning, BASiL has been awarded another Seed Grant for their proposed study titled “Ultrasound-enabled strategies for synchronous imaging and therapy of venous blood clots”. Thank you to the College of Engineering and Multidisciplinary Seed Grant Program! We look forward to some great collaboration!
January 3, 2018
Recipient of the 2018 Penn State College of Engineering Multidisciplinary Seed Grant
BASiL is teaming up with MUSL led by Dr. Meghan Vidt to investigate non-invasive histotripsy therapy in tendons for rotator cuff injury repair with a 2018 Penn State College of Engineering Seed Grant. Stay tuned for some exciting results!