12 | THELAKER alumni spotlight ORDER FROM CHAOS An eye-opening class helped Jade Myers ’12 chart a path toward research and development of 3D-printed prosthetics. Jade Myers starts a tour of the AMPrint Center at Rochester Institute of Technology with a basic 3D printer she uses for prototypes. A few feet away rests a stereolithography printer. Instead of laying down thin layers of a polymer, it directs a laser into a vat of resin at the bottom. e object emerges from the liquid as if coming to life. Jade points to another groundbreaking device. “ is is one of our brand new printers that I'm super excited to start working with. is resin has bioabsorbable powdered ceramics in it,” she says, explaining its potential to replace damaged bone while a patient’s own cells grow around it. As she moves to printers that use metal alloys, nylon, and other materials, she rattles o possible uses with infectious enthusiasm. Since graduating from FLCC, she has traveled to Haiti several times to provide 3D-printed prosthetic limbs for earthquake victims. She also earned a doctorate in mechanical and industrial engineering. Like ripples in a pond, these e orts grew from the splash of an FLCC class: Chaos: e Self-Organizing Universe with Sam Samanta, professor of physics. “I honestly can say that it was the most pivotal class that I've ever taken,” she says. “I learned there is a pattern underlying just about any discipline. Once you recognize that pattern, you're like, ‘OK now I understand. is makes sense to me.’” Finding patterns In chaos theory, patterns help us understand and predict how systems behave over time. Even in seemingly random situations, recognizing patterns can reveal order and help explain why small changes can lead to big, unpredictable outcomes. Patterns o en have a distinctive shape, such as branching trees or neurons. In this way, chaos theory brought together her interests in art and science. A er earning a liberal arts and sciences degree at FLCC,
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