Human Performance and Rehabilitation
Research pursued in this thrust investigates the neural and mechanical control of human movement in health and disease. Developing this understanding requires addressing a range of critical questions: How do we learn to reach, grasp and manipulate objects? Does the coordination of walking differ when walking through the park on one’s own, when rushing to cross the street before the traffic light changes or when walking very slowly? The common movement tasks described above become so highly automated that they are taken for granted. However, in the face of neuropathologies, such as stroke, spinal cord injury or Parkinson’s disease these abilities are lost and recovery of function is elusive. Current rehabilitation efforts diverge between medical approaches that utilize exercise/physical activity and biologic agents to drive recovery through neuroplasticity, and engineered approaches that employ robotic and exoskeleton devices to compensate for lost function. Research in this area is supported by 10 faculty members from 7 departments and 4 centers. Research in human performance and rehabilitation is anchored by the Center for Neuroengineering and Medicine and the Neurology and Neurological Surgery Departments.
Faculty studying human performance and rehabilitation
| Wilsaan M. Joiner, Ph.D. | Sensorimotor integration, motor learning/control, and clinical applications |
| Sanjay Joshi, Ph.D. | Robotics, Human-Machine Interfaces (including Brain-Computer Interfaces), Prosthetics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Rehabilitation |
| Zhaodan Kong, Ph.D. | Robotics, human-autonomy teaming, control theory, machine learning, neuroengineering |
| Allan Martin, M.D. Ph.D., F.R.C.S.C. | Spine imaging and surgery |
| Craig M.McDonald, M.D. | Neuromuscular Medicine, Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation |
| Lee M. Miller, Ph.D, | Auditory Neuroscience and Speech Recognition |
| Karen Moxon, Ph.D. | Neural encoding and plasticity, neuroprosthetics, neuroengineering, brain-machine interfaces |
| Carolynn Patten, Ph.D., P.T., F.A.P.T.A. | Neural basis of human movement, investigating human motor control and learning from a perspective of neuromechanics |
| Stephen K. Robinson, Ph.D. | Augmentation and extension of human capabilities and performance in safety-critical environments. |
| Jonathon Schofield, Ph.D. | Assistive robotics, rehabilitation engineering, neural-integrated prosthetic limbs, cognition and perception, clinical translation |