In January 2011, Dr. Ou was awarded the NIH COBRE Pilot Grant in the amount of $50,000 for 17 months for the research project titled "Numerical Method for Computing Stress Distribution in Multi-scaled Bone-Joint Systems from µ-CT Scans." The specific outcome of the proposed research is the ability for identifying high stress areas in the cartilage through numerical computation. This approach can potentially provide information on how the alignment of joints and bones should be corrected in order to slow down the deterioration of the joint tissue. A more general outcome is the availability of a state-of-art computational tool for studying mechanical properties of composite tissues from µ-CT images, which can be easily accessible nowadays. This grant will provide funding for two students and research visits between collaborating institutions, which include University of Delaware, The Ohio State University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.