Currently Funded Projects

• “Novel Methods for Identification of Concussion Associated Impairment in Blast Exposed Service Members”: [Oct., 2009 – Sept., 2011] This two year project is being funded by the Military Operational Medicine Research Program (MOMRP). The primary objectives of this project are to (#1) To further establish the psychometric properties of field-expedient and emerging technologically advanced techniques for the identification of concussion associated motor impairments, (#2) Determine the ability of field-expedient and technologically advanced techniques for the identification of concussion associated based motor impairments to identify concussed service members, and (#3) Determine the feasibility and initial effectiveness of a VR based treatment and assessment tool. This work is a collaborative project with Principal Investigator Jason M. Wilken at Brooke Army Medical Center.
• “Improving Dynamic Walking Stability in Traumatic Amputees”: [Jan., 2010 - Dec., 2014] This five year project is being funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The primary aims of this project are to (#1) Determine how trans-tibial amputation alters the ability to respond to small continuous visual or mechanical perturbations during walking, (#2) determine how trans-tibial amputation alters the ability to respond to large discrete mechanical perturbations during walking, and (#3) determine if virtual reality (VR) based training is more successful than conventional therapy for improving walking stability in patients with trans-tibial amputation. [Abstract].
• “Changes in Control of Movement Timing and Stability With Muscle Fatigue”: [Sept., 2008 - Aug., 2010] This two year project is being funded by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The primary purposes of this project are to (#1) Determine how widespread vs. localized muscle fatigue affect the control of movement timing, (#2) Determine how widespread vs. localized muscle fatigue affect the control of movement stability. [Abstract].
• “Dynamic Stability in Human Walking: From Small to Large Perturbations”: [April, 2008 – March, 2011] This two year project is being funded by the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). The primary purposes of this project are to (#1) Develop novel meaningful quantitative measures of dynamic stability that are appropriate for analyzing human walking, (#2) Develop and validate a novel computational model of walking specifically designed to predict human walking stability, and (#3) Determine how moderate and large perturbations impact local and global dynamic stability in human walking. [Abstract].
• "Trial-to-Trial Nonlinear Dynamics of Human Movements": [Oct, 2006 – Sept, 2010] This three year project is being funded by the National Science Foundation Division of Civil, Mechanical, and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) . The primary purposes of this project are to (#1) Develop theoretical and computational models of a variety of repeated precision human movement tasks, (#2) Examine how performance in these tasks arises from the interaction between the geometry of the task-specific goal, passive sensitivity, control and active stability, and intrinsic noise, and (#3) Develop new experimental methods to experimentally test qualitative predictions based on these theoretical results. This work is a collaborative project with Principal Investigator Joseph Cusumano at Penn State University. [Abstract].

Previously Funded Projects

• Tracking Fatigue-Related Changes in Motor Coordination: [Sept., 2005 - Aug., 2008] This two year project was funded by the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). The primary purposes of this project were to (#1) Develop an appropriate apparatus and protocol for studying fatigue-induced changes in coordination during a repetitive task, (#2) Develop appropriate analytical tools to track fatigue-induced changes in coordination during repetitive tasks, and (#3) Explore the time courses over which muscle function and coordination change during a fatigue-inducing repetitive task. Co-Investigator: David Chelidze, University of Rhode Island. [Abstract]
• Mechanisms Underlying the Capacity of Elderly Subjects to Maintain Dynamic Stability During Standing and Walking: [May, 2003 - April, 2006] This was a three year project, funded by a Biomedical Engineering Research Grant from The Whitaker Foundation. The two primary purposes of this project were (i) to develop and test dynamically valid measures for quantifying stability during standing and walking and (ii) to identify those biomechanical and neuromuscular mechanisms that are responsible for maintaining whole-body stability during walking and to determine how those mechanisms are altered in the course of normal aging.