![\"The](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Anklestone-1-225x300.jpg\")
Supported by the U.S. Economic Development Administration, CMSC provides technical assistance at no cost to small- and medium-sized manufacturers in Connecticut, fostering innovation and economic development in the state. The center offers a suite of high-performance computing-based modeling and simulation services, enabling companies to replace costly physical prototypes with virtual simulations that streamline the development process.<\/p>\n
Many small businesses, Kim adds, lack the specialized resources required for intensive prototyping. The center\u2019s physics-based modeling and virtual prototyping approach, he says, allows companies like ZANEEZ\u00ae to develop cost-effective solutions efficiently.<\/p>\n
CMSC\u2019s staff is currently engaged in virtual prototyping of the AnkleSTONE\u00ae foot and ankle platform, made from advanced thermoplastic polymers. This process reduces the time and cost associated with multiple rounds of physical testing, optimizing structural integrity and product performance before physical production begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cResearch and support from CMSC has made our development process more efficient, saving a tremendous amount of time and expense versus physical prototyping and destructive testing,\u201d says Dan Tangari, a lead designer from Spark Design LLC, working with ZANEEZ\u00ae. Spark, Tangari explains, works with a diverse group of clients to help develop innovative products from initial concept through production.<\/p>\n
CMSC, says Tangari, has been assisting Marien Zanyk, ZANEEZ\u00ae founder and CEO, in refining her AnkleSTONE\u00ae product for injection molding. \u201cThis requires accounting for complex loads and stress that the product will encounter during use,\u201d he explains. \u201cThis type of analysis is outside the scope of our capabilities. Partnering with Dr. Kim and CMSC was an invaluable step in the development process.\u201d<\/p>\n Through Kim\u2019s advanced structural analysis of the AnkleSTONE\u00ae product, potential weak areas were identified in the design for typical use-case scenarios, Tangari continues. \u201cOur combined team was able to meet virtually at regular intervals to review new findings based on the latest simulations. This virtual prototyping provided insights that guided our design improvements, allowing us to iterate faster, and make much more informed decisions during CAD refinement. The collaboration between ZANEEZ\u00ae and CMSC allows us to feel confident moving forward that we have a proven design that is ready for production.\u201d<\/p>\n Since its inception in 2016, CMSC has collaborated with over 50 businesses, training more than 350 professionals, 2,400 UConn students, and 24 community students.\u00a0 Other CMSC projects include partnerships with Aero Gear, PCX Aerospace, and Advanced Manufacturing LLC, focusing on complex simulation and optimization for Connecticut\u2019s manufacturing sector.<\/p>\n Located at the Engineering Science Building on UConn\u2019s Storrs campus, CMSC continues to support the state\u2019s manufacturing industry with cutting-edge computational tools and research. For more information, visit CMSC\u2019s <\/em>website<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<\/em>LinkedIn page<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UConn\u2019s Connecticut Manufacturing Simulation Center collaboration with local biotech companies is fostering innovation and economic development in the state<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":225599,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2315],"class_list":["post-225595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 08:17:17","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/150"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225595"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225738,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225595\/revisions\/225738"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/225599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225595"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=225595"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=225595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/engineering171117c028-300x206.jpg\")