PEOPLE

Director: Dr. Chris Dennison, PhD PEng

Dennison@uvic.ca

Dr. Dennison is the director of the Biomechanics and Instrumentation Laboratory. He is an associate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Director of the Biomedical Engineering program. In 2021 Dr. Dennison moved from the University of Alberta, where he was the director of the Biomedical Engineering undergraduate program, to the University of Victoria and established the Biomechanics and Instrumentation Laboratory (BaIL). Dr. Dennison's major research interests are in the area of biomechanics and biomedical instrumentation and focuses on understanding mechanisms of traumatic injury in contexts spanning civilian life, sports and defence. Dr. Dennison is a former Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Instrumentation, a member of the scientific review committee of the International Research Council on the Biomechanics of Injury, a committee member of ASTM International and a past recipient of numerous awards, including a Discovery Award from the Banting Research Foundation.

Our Team

Aaron Brice, MSc

Aaron’s primary research focuses on the influence of body mass, and body orientation, in head first impacts during free fall events for the improvement of helmet certification tests.

Aaron grew up around manufacturing and racing motorcycles. after completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Alberta in mechanical engineering in 2015 he continued to pursue manufacturing using conventional and additive methods for the remanufacturing of construction and forestry equipment. He then transitioned to working on well optimization/automation systems for the oil and gas sector. In 2020, his interest in understanding how the protective gear he used while racing (and crashing) motorcycles is developed drew him to a masters degree. He has since traded the motorcycle racing for endurance sport and the island life. Today you can find him doing “casual” bike rides, competing in triathlons, spending time with his dog, or setting off copious amounts of fireworks.

Dr Inyani Keri, MD, MSc

Dr Inyani Keri is currently a neurosurgery resident at McMaster University.

Dr Keri has a multi-disciplinary background in engineering and medicine, with expertise in

biomedical device development and computational modeling.

Before medical school, he earned an undergraduate degree in Electrical and Computer

Engineering (Biomedical Stream, with distinction) from the University of Alberta. He then

completed a Master degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Bionic Limbs for Improved

Natural Control Lab, focusing on prosthetics and rehabilitation medicine.

Now a neurosurgery resident at McMaster University, Dr Keri integrates his engineering

background into neurosurgical innovation. Dr Keri is collaborating with the Biomechanics

and Instrumentation Lab on physics informed neural networks applied to brain injury modeling.

Hossein Korani, PhD student

Hossein joined the Biomechanics and Instrumentation Lab in 2023. He received his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology and his MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Tehran. His primary research focus is in innovative methods of measuring head kinematics in sports. he is also interested in the areas of bioengineering, applied mechanics and artificial Intelligence. He enjoys the cinema, comedy shows, backpacking, learning new languages, and drinking copious amounts of tea!

AJ Hinman - Master student

AJ is currently completing a bachelor degree at St. FX and will be joining the Biomechanics

and Instrumentation Lab this summer! More to come!

Pippa Kolking - Master student

Pippa is currently completing a bachelor degree at the University of Guelph and will be joining the Biomechanics and Instrumentation Lab this summer/fall! More to come!

Ama Ouchen - Master Student

Ama is coming to the Biomechanics and Instrumentation Lab from Politecnico di Torino (Italy). More to come!

Yassine El Alaoui, MSc - Research Engineer

Yassine joined the Biomechanics and Instrumentation Lab in the Fall of 2024. Yassine is focusing on mechanical and mechatronic design of impact simulators in

collaboration with Defense Research and Development Canada. More to come!

Sophie Amina Beauchesne - Co-op

Sophie joined the Biomechanics and Instrumentation Lab in the Fall of 2024 as

a volunteer intern, and returned in January 2025 to conduct a co-operative

research project, focusing on models to test oral protection devices! More to come!

Past Members

PhD

Kevin Montero Adanty (University of Alberta)
Yizhao Li (University of Alberta)
Maria Belen Ortiz Garcia (University of Alberta)
Paris Vakiel (University of Calgary)
Brooklynn Knowles (University of Alberta)
Amirali Toosi (University of Alberta)

Master's

Hrishitha Kishan (University of Victoria)
Dorna Naseri (University of Victoria)
Arshia Ashfar (University of Victoria)
Alex Johnston (University of Victoria)
Ashton Martin (University of Alberta)
Aaron Brice (University of Victoria)
Yicheng Guo (University of Victoria)
Robert Chauvet (University of Alberta)
Lindsey Agnew (University of Alberta)
Gabriella Wynn (University of Alberta)
Kathryn Houg (University of Alberta)
Samantha Macgillivray (University of Alberta)
Manju Sivam (University of Alberta)
Megan Ogle (University of Alberta)
Austin Azar (University of Alberta)
Kapil Bhagavathula (University of Alberta)
Henry Yu (University of Alberta)
Robert Calyn Butz (University of Alberta)

Co-op students

University of Victoria

Emi George
Jag Dhaliwal
Mobina Rafieipour
Quinton Braziller
Sabrina Osornio
Ian McDonald
Alan Smith
Catherine Wong
Katharine Barret
Regan Casey
Ian McDonald
Jack Walmsley
Eric Pettapiece
Kristof Szojka

University of Alberta

Olivia Tronchin
Julia Shore
Lowell McAllister
George Felobes
Ashton Martin
Solbee Seo
Dorsa Nahid
Ashton Martin
Raymond Guan
Tyler Weiss
Kirsti Bell
Samantha MacGillivray
Saad Navaid
Felix Leong
Prashant Nundloll
Henry Yu
Austin Azar
Shaan Muhammad
Grayson Henderson
Katherine Evans
Robert Calyn Butz
Jake Hadfield
Henry Yu