Engineering to enhance human mobility, play, and exploration
Alyssa and Momona attended the Summer School on Neurorehabilitation (SSNR) in Baiona, Spain from September 16th to the 21st. Alyssa gave a podium presentation on a feedback system she is developing that aims to characterize and target altered motor control in cerebral palsy. Momona gave a poster presentation to share her recent quantifications of deficits in motor planning in cerebral palsy. Nice work, Alyssa and Momona!
This summer the Steele Lab had the pleasure of hosting three undergraduate researchers – Julia Costacurta from Johns Hopkins, Joe Lawler from the University of Washington, and Preston Pan from the University of Washington.
After a competitive selection process, students are offered a 10-week internship here at the University to work directly with a research lab on campus. One of the program’s final deliverables is a presentation of their work, both in podium and poster format, to members of the local and scientific community. Congratulations to Julia, Joe, and Preston for their successful time here in the lab, and for giving polished presentations.
Julia’s work explored the impacts of Ankle-Foot Orthoses on transient gait, a period of walking where little is currently known about device dynamics.
Preston worked directly with Seattle Children’s Hospital to implement algorithms for detecting bimanual hand movement before, during, and after a common therapy used to promote improved motor skills for children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy.
Joe’s focus this summer involved working with the University of Washington HuskyADAPT program. HuskyADAPT is a student-run program in its second year and stands for Accessible Design and Play Technology. Joe’s research question asked, how we can improve upon and further promote an inclusive and sustainable program for assistive technology?
Congratulations to Ben Shuman for being named Best Student Oral Presentation at the International Society of Electromyography and Kinesiology conference in Dublin, Ireland.
This is an incredibly large honor at an international conference with hundreds of presenters. Well done, Ben!
Journal article in International Journal for Designs for Learning
Makerspaces provide the general community with a space to brainstorm, prototype, and create. Considering this, it is especially important to create a welcoming environment for individuals with diverse abilities, including individuals with disabilities.
To read the article in full, CLICK HERE.
Congratulations to Brianna and Ben on being selected as two of the 23 awarded out of 272 applicants.
The De Luca Foundation informed Brianna that she had been selected as a winner of a 2018 Student Travel Award for funding to travel to the American Society of Biomechanics this summer. Her research focuses on “Wearable Technology to Monitor Hand Movement During Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy”.
Likewise, the foundation named Ben 1 of 8 student recipients of the travel award that will help fund his travels to Dublin for the World Congress of Biomechanics. His winning research topic was that “Pre-treatment synergy activations are associated with post-treatment gait in cerebral palsy”.