{"id":5260,"date":"2026-05-13T15:01:44","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/?post_type=profiles&#038;p=5260"},"modified":"2026-08-12T08:08:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T12:08:49","slug":"devin-bester","status":"publish","type":"profiles","link":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/profiles\/devin-bester\/","title":{"rendered":"Devin Bester"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"599\" src=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Bester-Devin.jpg\" alt=\"by Corban Swain\" class=\"wp-image-5575\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1;object-fit:cover;width:200px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Bester-Devin.jpg 400w, https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/Bester-Devin-200x300.jpg 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>University of Kentucky<\/strong><br>Faculty Advisor: Prof. Giovanni Traverso<br>Research Supervisor: Stephen O&#8217;Neill<br>Department: Mechanical Engineering<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:0px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Biography<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Devin Bester is a University of Kentucky senior majoring in mechanical engineering and<br>minoring in mathematics. Wanting to forge his own path, he has decided to pursue a career that<br>helps others by prioritizing biomechanical systems analysis and medical device development<br>across various research endeavors. This has included developing microvascular suture tools at<br>Johns Hopkins University, performing computational modeling of tissue anatomy at Columbia<br>University, and facilitating protein amino acid sequence sonification and microgel fabrication<br>using self-designed droplet generators at his home institution. His current research at the<br>Massachusetts Institute of Technology aims to enhance wetsuit performance by fabricating bioinspired<br>polymer composites. Outside the lab, Devin serves as an Engineering Ambassador and<br>enjoys traveling, cooking, and acting. His main aspiration is to pursue a Ph.D. that furthers his<br>academic career, allowing him to conduct research and foster the future of engineering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br><strong>Characterizing Thermal Insulation in Mammalian Biology<br>Devin Bester1, Stephen O\u2019Neill2, and Giovanni Traverso2<\/strong><br>1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kentucky<br>2Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><br>The current standard for wetsuits is to use polychloroprene (Neoprene) foam for high thermal<br>insulation and flexibility, excellent for the low-temperature environments encountered by<br>underwater divers. However, thermal insulation decreases because the increased hydrostatic<br>pressure compresses the gas within the foam&#8217;s cells, decreasing a diver\u2019s time underwater. One<br>possible solution is to use biomimetics to inspire future wetsuit materials. Mammals in coldclimate<br>regions thermally regulate themselves in multiple ways; however, the structural makeup<br>of individual hair fibers has yet to be analyzed. This project aims to analyze animal hair fibers<br>to determine how their composition influences their insulative properties. Nine samples were<br>provided by the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, obtained from mammals inhabiting<br>several regions across North America and Asia. Samples were prepped with liquid nitrogen<br>before viewing their native cross sections using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). SEM<br>imaging revealed distinct cross-sectional architectures across cold-adapted mammalian hairs,<br>including porous and dense fiber structures. These differences may inform the design of<br>bioinspired insulating textiles for underwater and cold-environment applications<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5575,"template":"","profile_category":[25],"class_list":["post-5260","profiles","type-profiles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","profile_category-2026-interns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profiles"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5794,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profiles\/5260\/revisions\/5794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"profile_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oge.mit.edu\/msrp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_category?post=5260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}