Hampton Bays Junior David Catena's Research of 3D Printers Could Mean A Printer For the School

Hampton Bays High School junior David Catena is working hard as part of the school’s Science Research program. His research is focused on the medical applications of 3D printing, and may result in the school acquiring a 3D printer in upcoming months.

“I’m looking into the medical application of 3D printing, just basically its uses in the medical community,” the 16-year-old said. “And how 3D printing can help people in need.”

David is being mentored by Dr. Murat Guvendiren, assistant professor of chemical and materials engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

On October 24, David and Dr. Stephanie Forsberg, head of the science research program, traveled to NJIT to meet Dr. Guvendiren. They also received a tour of the lab where Dr. Guvendiren works, and David was able to learn more about medical 3D printing.

“We just recently met with him, Dr. Forsberg and I, and he gave me a medical 3D printing review that he had written,” David said. “So, I’m going to be reading that to see which topic I want to look into, and I’m going tell him which topic, and we are going to start going deeper into my research.”

David discovered the possibilities of 3D printing in eighth grade. Prior to joining the program, prospective students must write an essay explaining topics they might want to research to be admitted to the program.

“I typed new materials for construction into Google, but it said new materials for 3D printing,” David said. “So I looked at that, and I stayed looking at just regular 3D printing. And then I looked in medical 3D printing, and I thought that was the most interesting.”

Over the past three years, he has worked closely with Dr. Forsberg to develop his project.

“Dave is a very driven student,” Dr. Forsberg said. “He came to me with the idea of 3D printing his freshman year, and actually the medical applications of it, and he’s taken that project and really run with it and gone all the way to find a great mentor at NJIT.”

The Hampton Bays district announced that the project had been submitted for a National Science Foundation grant, that would provide 3D biomedical printing technologies to the Hampton Bays School District for incorporation into its science research program.

“It’s not for sure yet that we have it,” David said. “We are still looking at it, and they have to approve it.

“We will, hopefully, know in the upcoming months,” he added.

Julia Heming, a student at Hampton Bays High School, is an intern for the Express News Group.