Harvard professor supports Lipscomb mission trip
Chris Pepple |
When Alan Bradshaw, an associate professor with Lipscomb University’s Raymond B. Jones School of Engineering and director of the Vanderbilt GI Biomagnetism Lab, spoke at a Harvard University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Applied Mechanics Colloquium, he lectured about his work with the Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) magnetometer used to evaluate biological magnetic fields produced by the stomach and small bowel. Bradshaw is known in his field for his outstanding research in biomagnetism and has received the Nightingale Prize awarded by the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) for the best paper published in its official journal in 2005.
Dr. Kit Parker, assistant professor at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, knew of the outstanding research led by Bradshaw and invited him to speak at a university colloquium. “Though Kit’s specialty is cardiac electrophysiology, we have similarities in our research,” Bradshaw states. Parker is a principal investigator with Harvard’s Disease Biophysics Group. This interdisciplinary team of biologists, physicists, engineers and material scientists are actively researching the structure/function relationship in cardiac tissue engineering.
Bradshaw had an opportunity to share not only his work with the SQUID magnetometer, but also his mission work with the Lipscomb engineering students and faculty. “David Fann led two mission trips last year,” Bradshaw states. “I was fortunate enough to go with him on the bridge-building trip to Guatemala. It was a blessing for me to work with him. His whole life has been about missions. And it humbles me to be around students who have been on eight or ten mission trips and I am twice their age and have only been on two. I’m impressed with the number of Lipscomb students who really have a heart for it.”
Parker was also impressed by the Lipscomb mission work. He listened to the details of last year’s bridge-building trip to Guatemala. He also heard details about the May 8 through 18 return trip to Guatemala. Lipscomb’s engineering group will work on another bridge project, check for required maintenance on the previous bridge, assist with a clean water project and fulfill outreach projects in the local schools.
“Kit is very interested in Christian engineering education,” Bradshaw states. “He realized that a project like this where students take the lead will be an invaluable educational experience and a wonderful outreach to the communities in Guatemala. Kit and his wife, Kimberly, decided to sponsor a student for this trip. They presented me with a check to bring back to Lipscomb to help make this mission trip possible for someone.”
The time in Guatemala teaches Lipscomb students how to use their talents to the glory of God. They head to Guatemala with plans in their head for a bridge and clean water and science classes, but God has plans for their hearts and for His bridges—bridges for his kingdom, bridges that span across continents and across universities and connect people by faith and by fellowship. Kit and Kimberly Parker have joined this journey.