Read the 2022-2023 Biomechanics Annual Newsletter

Letter from the Director: Rethink the Impossible

This was an incredible year for our team as you will read in this newsletter. We had many accomplishments with notable highlights, including the 10-year anniversary of our Biomechanics Research Building and the fantastic achievement of getting our second COBRE. I am not sure that there is another US academic department that has two COBRE grants, but here at UNO, our Biomechanics Department has now two! I understand that our administration is working hard to secure the funds to further expand our building and accommodate all the new laboratories that we will have to create for our second COBRE, but also for the numerous new developments of our tireless and extremely energetic faculty members.

However, this was also a very tough year. I lost my mother in Greece, Vaya Stergiou. An incredible woman that worked under tremendous hardships as a single parent to raise me and my brother, a cardiologist. She loved biomechanics and she always encouraged my wild ideas. In her memory we have in our Department the Vaya Stergiou Fellowship that every year goes to a student majoring in biomechanics. We also lost our great benefactor and dear friend of biomechanics, Bill Scott. Despite being far from my biological family, Bill and Ruth transformed Omaha into a home for me. Bill became the closest thing to a father figure I’ve ever had. His attentive ear, wise counsel, and the deep desire to make him proud have filled me with a sense of belonging and purpose that drives me to keep working hard to this day. He was always so proud and excited to learn about our most recent innovations and awards. One of the best memories of my life was singing to Bill (and Ruth) when they were inducted as the Face on the Barroom Floor. The last line of that song seems like a fitting send off for Bill - You’ve made this… possible.

Vaya and Bill are gone, but their legacy will be with us forever. Their spirits guide us to always strive for new heights, to always rethink the impossible.

Thank you,

Dr. Nick Stergiou

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