Kayin Davis

Kayin Davis

Kayin Davis is a rising senior pursuing mechanical engineering as a member of Howard University’s Karsh STEM Scholars PhD Pathway Program. He plans to pursue a PhD in biomechanical engineering, applying principles of mechanical design and biomechanics to advance research on musculoskeletal medical devices. His passion stems from a desire to develop new medical technologies that both save and improve lives worldwide. Kayin has pursued computational aerospace research through Howard University’s @FTER Lab, as well as experimental nanomaterials research through Columbia University’s MRSEC REU. At MIT, he works with Professor Dava Newman on integrating NMES systems with the GLCS skinsuit to counteract musculoskeletal deconditioning in long-duration human spaceflights. Kayin is also the president of Howard’s ASME chapter and is dedicated to uniting a diverse community of aspiring engineers while providing them with opportunities to advance their academic and career journeys.

Electrical Stimulation Skinsuit to Combat Musculoskeletal Deconditioning in
Long-Duration Human Spaceflight
Kayin Davis¹, Nicole Lee², Dava Newman^2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Howard University
²Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

During long-duration space missions, astronauts are subject to microgravity, where the lack of gravitational loading on the body causes musculoskeletal deconditioning. Current countermeasures for this rely on specialized treadmills and resistance training equipment to reduce muscle and bone density loss, but for future lunar and Martian missions with limited vessel capacity, more compact countermeasures are necessary. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) systems are wearable devices that induce involuntary contractions using electrical stimulation. Additionally, the gravity loading countermeasure skinsuit (GLCS) is an intravehicular activity suit that simulates Earth’s gravitational loading using fiber tension to produce an axial compression. This project aims to use embroidered textile electrodes to seamlessly integrate the NMES systems into the GLCS skinsuit. By testing the effect of pressure, stitch parameters, and moisture content on the system’s impedance, the safety and effectiveness of the skinsuit can be tested. Because dry textile electrodes are sometimes known to cause skin burns and have poor performance, optimizing these parameters to minimize impedance is critical. Combining these two technologies will create a skinsuit that can effectively reduce muscle atrophy and bone density loss by targeting both type 1 and type 2 muscle fibers, giving it high potential for use in future space missions.