Diane Western became curious when she heard CMU was looking for body scanning volunteers.

That is why Western, along with two friends, drove from her home in St. John’s to the Industrial and Engineering Technology Building to have her body scanned.

“It was easy,” she said afterward.

The body scan is a state-of-the-art technology that creates a 3-D image of a person, animal or object.

“There are eight cameras. The cameras will send out a laser beam, like the one at a supermarket checkout, scan the subject and form a 3-D image,” said Dana Harder, the coordinator for the body scanner laboratory. “It’s pretty cutting-edge technology.”

The body scanner laboratory holds open scanning hours from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays for men and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays for women at the IET building room 115. Anyone more than nine years old is welcome, but the laboratory advises that men and those older than 25 are the main focus.

Open scanning ends today, but should continue throughout the next academic year.

Four pillars host the cameras and collect 300,000 data points in 12 seconds, resulting in a high resolution 3-D image of the subject.

“All of the information is compiled into a database,” Harder said. “Once in the database, the different departments can access it.”

But the database is not the final destination of some of these images.

“There are three departments that need it,” said Grand Rapids junior Andy Borek, who works at the body scanner lab on Tuesdays. “They use it for all sorts of things.”

Clothing companies also make use of the 3-D images, which represent a cross-section of customers’ body types. The images have helped in the design of NHL jerseys, Borek said.

Students and faculty use the body scanner for many different purposes.

“A lot of the engineering students come in, and the functional apparel and design students,” Harder said.

Despite its name, the body scanner also is useful for producing images of non-human subjects. Engineering students scan objects to obtain measurements and data for research in fields such as ergonomics and reverse engineering.

“We did an experiment with scanning a dog,” said Ann Arbor graduate student Kelly Clark, who has been working with the body scanner for more than a year.

But the body scanner is not just a toy. It is a point of pride for the university, Harder said.

“It is the only (body scanner) in the state,” Harder said. “There’s only seven or eight in the country.”

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