CLEAR.
CLOSED LOOP ENGINEERING for ADVANCED REHABILITATION
Research Emphases
MECHANICS
Closing-the-loop between Wearable Technology and Biology to optimize tissue/organ function.
CONTROL & LEARNING
Merging human intelligence and artificial intelligence to achieve environment adaptation, optimal task performance, and safety
USER PERCEPTION
Integrate human perception and cognition into human-machine system and control
CLEAR Research Community
 Josh Alexander, MDChair, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation |  John Baratta, MD, MBAClinical Assistant Professor Medical Director, Stroke Rehabilitation |  Troy Blackburn, Ph.D.Neuromuscular Research Laboratory |  Alper Bozkurt, Ph.D.iBionics - Integrated Bionic Microsystems Lab |  Jessica Cassidy, PT, DPT, PhDAssistant Professor, Department of Physical Therapy |  Jacque Cole Ph.D.Orthopaedic Mechanobiology Laboratory |  Scott Ferguson, Ph.D.System Design Optimization (SDO) Laboratory |
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 William Filer, MDClinical Assistant Professor Director, Residency Program |  Matt Fisher, Ph.D.Translational Orthopaedic Research Laboratory |  Jason Franz, Ph.D.Applied Biomechanics Laboratory |  Henry Fuchs, Ph.D.FEDERICO GIL DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR |  Debby Givens, PT, DPT, PhDDirector and Professor Division of Physical Therapy Department of Allied Health Sciences UNC-CH |  Xiaogang Hu, Ph.D.Neuromechanics Laboratory |  Helen Huang, Ph.D.Neuromuscular Rehabilitation Engineering Laboratory |
 Derek Kamper, Ph.D.Hand Rehabilitation Laboratory |  Michael Y. Lee, M.D., M.H.A., C.P.E.Senior Faculty Physical Medicine & Rehab Baylor College of Medicine |  Mike Lewek, Ph.D.Neurogait Research laboratory |  Ming Liu, Ph.D.Research Assistant Professor |  Edgar Lobaton, Ph.D.Active Robotic Sensing (ARoS) Laboratory |  Karen McCulloch, PT, PhD, NCSProfessor Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Neurologic Physical Therapy Division of Physical Therapy Department of Allied Health Sciences |  Vicki Mercer, PT, Ph.D.Associate Professor Director, Human Movement Science PhD Program Division of Physical Therapy Department of Allied Health Sciences UNC-CH |
 Blaise Morrison, PhD, CRC, PCAssistant Professor |  Zeljko Pantic, Ph.D.Associate Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering |  Brian Pietrosimone, PhD, ATCNeuromuscular Research Laboratory |  Kate Saul, Ph.D.Movement Biomechanics Laboratory |  Nitin Sharma, Ph.D.Associate Professor, Neuromuscular Control & Robotics |  Louise Thoma, PT, DPT, PhD |  Erik Wikstrom, PhD, ATC, LATAssistant Professor, Athletic Training Katherine Smith Gunter Fellow Co-Director, Sport Medicine Research Laboratory Department of Exercise and Sport Science UNC-CH |
Latest News & Research Videos
LIMB_prosthesis
LIMB_prosthesis
Validation of a Computer-Based Psychomotor Study
UL PR Demo_compressed
NSF Prosthetic Science Now story
Upcoming Seminars
Randy Trumbower, PT, PhD
Assistant Professor
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Harvard Medical School
September 2, 2022
Karl Zelik, PhD
September 30, 2022
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Vanderbilt University
Additional Rehab Related Seminars, Talks & Meetings
Rehab Labs Research Meetings
When: 1st Friday of the Month from 9:30am — 10:30am
Dates: See calendar
Locations: Engineering Building III, Room 4142 & Mary Ellen Jones, Room 9010A
About: The seminar series serves as an opportunity for students to present research progress and obtain feedback from faculty and their peers. For faculty/ postdocs, the meetings serve as a platform to share grant submission ideas and solicit feedback.
Recent Presenters
Joint Rehab/Regen Monthly Meeting
June 03, 2022
Dr. Sang Wook Lee, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Catholic University of America
Topic: Impaired Motor Control of Bimanual Action Following Stroke: Understanding Learned Nonuse
Dr. Lee's talk presented results from a series of studies that examined functional deficits of stroke survivors affecting their arm choice and bimanual action, which could help us better understand the learned nonuse phenomenon.
Joint Rehab/Regen Monthly Meeting
May 06, 2022
Dr. Amy N. Adkins, Assistant Teaching Professor, Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, UNC Chapel Hill & NC State University
Topic: Validation and Implementation of Multiscale Imaging Techniques for Quantifying Muscle Function and Plasticity
Dr. Adkin's talk established confidence in the ability to reliably quantify multiscale in vivo muscle structure (from the sarcomere scale to whole muscle) using minimally invasive imaging techniques and demonstrate the extent to which current approaches can detect structural adaptation in human muscle.
Joint Rehab/Regen Monthly Meeting
April 01, 2022
Dr. Roger Cornwall,
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Clinical Director, Division of Pediatric Orthopaedics
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Director, Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery Fellowship
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Professor, UC Department of Orthopedic Surgery
Topic: Shifting the Paradigm of Neuromuscular Contractures: A Little Medicine to Prevent a Lot of Surgery
Dr. Cornwall's talk told the story of how a clinical problem encountered during the surgical treatment of contractures following brachial plexus birth injury led to basic biological discoveries reshaping our understanding and potentially our treatment of neuromuscular contractures.
Joint Rehab/Regen Monthly Meeting
March 04, 2022
Student Presentations:
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Chelsea "CJ" Parker (Dr. Lewek's Lab), Subtle Variations in Metronome Cues can Alter Gait Without Conscious Awareness to Promote Implicit Learning
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Emily Eichenlaub (Dr. Franz's Lab), The Neuromechanics of Anticipated and Unanticipated Balance Perturbations During Standing and Walking
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Morgan Dalman (Dr. Saul's Lab), Computational Modeling of Glenohumeral Contact and Translation
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Miranda Ludovice (Dr. Kamper's Lab), The Impact of Finger Length and Posture on Muscle Activation Patterns Using OpenSim
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Wentao Liu (Dr. Huang's Lab), Inferring Human-Robot Performance Objectives during Locomotion using Inverse Reinforcement Learning
Joint Rehab/Regen Monthly Meeting
Febuary 04, 2022
Presenters: Gedas Bertasius, Henry Fuchs, Daniel Szafir, and Danielle Szafir
UNC Dept of Computer Science
Topic: The group discussed their own research and a new joint project, Augmented Reality Neurorehabilitation for Monitoring and Management of Motor Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease, which they have started with collaborators Professors Michael Lewek (Physical Therapy) and Nina Browner (Neurology). Topics of discussion included computer vision, egocentric motion tracking, virtual and augmented reality, human-robot interaction, and data visualization.
Joint Rehab/Regen Monthly Meeting
December 03, 2021
Dr. Karen Boru Chen, Assistant Professor, Edward P. Fitts Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, NC State University
Topic: Interfacing with virtual environments through bio-signals and bodily motions – integration and application
Dr. Chen's talk presented information about the integration and application of bio-signals and bodily motions to interface with VR.
Joint Rehab/Regen Monthly Meeting
October 01, 2021
Dr. Pedro Lopes, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago
Topic: Integrating Interactive Devices With the User’s Body
Dr. Lopes discussed his work on bodily-integrated devices, which he believes are the natural succession to wearable interfaces and allow us to investigate how interfaces might connect to our bodies in a more direct and personal way.