People
Faculty
Michael Boninger, MD
Professor
Research Interests
Assistive technology, biomechanics, neuroprosthetics, spinal cord injury, wheelchairs, regenerative medicine, teaching research
Jennifer L. Collinger, PhD
Assistant Professor
412-383-1274
Research Interests
Brain-computer interfaces, spinal cord injury, neurorehabilitation, assistive technology, neuroprosthetics
Lee Fisher, PhD
Assistant Professor
412-383-1326
Research Interests
neuroprosthetics, somatosensory function, spinal cord injury, amputation, balance control
Robert Gaunt, PhD
Assistant Professor
412-383-1426
Research Interests
neuroprostheses, sensorimotor control, bladder function, electrical stimulation
Amit Sethi, PhD, OTR/L
Assistant Professor
Research Interests
motor control, stroke, neuroplasticity, neurorehabilitation
Elizabeth Tyler-Kabara, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Research Interests
brain computer interfaces, cerebral palsy, spasticity, movement disorders, pediatric spinal and skull base disorders
Mike Urbin, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, Health Scientist, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
412-648-7916
Research Interests
neuroplasticity, neurorehabilitation, stroke, spinal cord injury
Douglas J. Weber, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Bioengineering
Research Interests
Bioelectronic medicines, biomechanics, electrophysiology, haptic perception, motor learning, neural coding and computation, neural plasticity, neural prostheses, neuromodulation, neurophysiology, spinal cord injury, stroke
George F. Wittenberg, MD, PhD
Professor (Visiting, pending appointment)
Research Interests
Neurorehabilitation, motor control, transcranial magnetic stimulation, functional imaging, stroke, movement disorders, neural network modeling
Lynn Worobey, PhD, DPT, ATP
Research Assistant Professor
412-383-1409
Research Interests
Spinal Cord Injury, assistive technology, interventional training programs, activity monitoring
Post Docs
Misagh Mansouri Boroujeni, PhD
Research Interests
Musculoskeletal modeling, dynamics simulation, prosthetic control, biomechanics, neuroprosthetics, rehabilitation
Brian Dekleva, PhD
Research Interests
brain-computer interfaces, motor cortex, movement planning, motor decision-making
Chaitanya Gopinath, PhD
Research Interests
Neuro-urology, neural control of lower urinary tract, spinal cord, bladder and urinary physiology
Kristin M. Quick, PhD
Research Interests
Neural prosthetics, control of dexterous movements, artificial sensory feedback, sensorimotor plasticity, ipsilateral sensorimotor cortex
Devapratim Sarma, PhD
Research Interests
Bioelectronic Medicine, Neuroprothetics, Brain-computer Interfaces, Neurorehabilitation, Somatosensory Integration, Neural Control of Dexterous Movements, Cognitive Computational Neuroscience
Graduate Students
Ernesto Bedoy
Advisor: Doug Weber
Research Interests
Testing and improving neural prosthetics to improve cognitive and motor impairments.
Carl Beringer
Advisor: Robert Gaunt
Research Interests
Myoelectric prosthetics, medical devices, motor control, electromyography (EMG)
Juhi Farooqui
Advisor: Robert Gaunt
Research Interests
Brain-computer interfaces, neurotechnology
Zulfar Ghulam-Jelani
Advisors: Jennifer Collinger and George Wittenberg
Research Interests
Brain computer interfaces, neurorehabilitation, assistive technology, machine learning, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury
Angelica Herrera
Advisor: Jen Collinger
Research Interests
Brain-computer interfaces, neural prosthetics, motor control, computational modeling
Chris Hughes, MS
Advisor: Robert Gaunt
Research Interests
brain-computer interfaces, sensory prosthetics, somatosensory cortex, computational modeling
Maria K Jantz
Advisor: Rob Gaunt
Research Interests
neuroprosthetics, bladder function, spinal cord injury, electrical stimulation
Vahagn Karapetyan, MD
Research Interests
Brain-computer interfaces, sensory neuroprosthetics, spinal cord injury, computational modeling
Jessica Kleinbart, ME
Advisor: Doug Weber
Research Interests
neuroprosthetics, implantable neurotechnology, neural interfaces, sensorimotor control, sensory feedback
Ritesh Kumar, MS
Advisor: Rob Gaunt
Research Interests
Neural technology: Sensing and stimulation, bladder functions, medical device development
Monica Liu
Advisor: Doug Weber
Research Interests
Somatosensory feedback, sensorimotor integration, computational neuroscience, neuroprosthetics.
Ameya Nanivadekar, MS
Advisor: Lee Fisher
Research Interests
Neuroprosthetics, somatosensory feedback, neuropathic pain, computational modeling, big data management
Bailey Petersen
Advisor: Lee Fisher
Research Interests
Neuroprosthetics, Gait, Balance, Neurological Physical Therapy
Stephanie Rigot, DPT
Advisor: Michael Boninger
Research Interests
Spinal cord injury, ambulation, activity monitoring, machine learning, physical therapy, transfers
Dylan Royston
Advisor: Jen Collinger
Research Interests
Brain-computer interfaces, neuroprosthetics, neural decoding, neuroimaging, sensorimotor control, multisensory integration, neural connectivity
Jonathan Shulgach
Advisor: Lee Fisher
Research Interests
Neural prostheses, artificial sensory feedback, brain machine interfaces, neurorehabilitation, assistive technology
Jordyn Ting
Advisor: Doug Weber
Research Interests
neuroplasticity, neurorehabilitation, neuroprosthetics, electrical stimulation, stroke, spinal cord injury
Undergraduate Students
Wafa'a Abualrub
Advisor: Doug Weber
Research Interests
Biosignals, Brain-computer interfaces, Neuroplasticity, Neuroscience, Neurotransmitters, Human cognitive abilities, Computational modeling, Neuroprosthetics.
Audrey Case
Advisor: Jen Collinger
Research Interests
FMRI imaging, Brain Computer Interfaces
Alex Hauschild
Advisor: Robert Gaunt
Research Interests
Understanding the circuitry of tactile processing in humans
Kris Keppel
Advisor: Robert Gaunt
Research Interests
Modeling the tissue-electrode interface in the stimulation circuitry
Nick Kshatri
Advisor: Robert Gaunt
Research Interests
bladder function, medical device development
Eli Sigman
Advisor: Doug Weber
Research Interests
EMG, Medical Device, neural engineering, prosthetics
Staff
Eric Ashuckian
Bioengineer
Research Interests
Assistive technology, neuroprosthetics, biomechanics, brain-computer interfaces.
Amy Boos, MSBME, OTR/L
Kinematic Occupational Therapist
Research Interests
Rehabilitation robotics, neurorehabilitation, biomechanics, motor control
Debbie Harrington
Senior Research Coordinator
412-383-1355
Research Interests
Brain-computer interface research for individuals with disabilities
Rachel Hibbs, DPT
Research Therapist
Research Interests
Spinal Cord Injury, Assistive Technology, Seating and Wheeled Mobility.
Fang Liu, PhD
Research Engineer
Research Interests
Applying MRI to brain-computer interface research for patients with disabilities.
Caroline Schoenewald
Bioengineer
Research Interests
neuroprosthetics, somatosensory feedback, and spinal cord injury
Tyler Simpson, MS
Senior Bioengineer
Research Interests
assistive technology, electrophysiology, and neuroprostheses
David Weir, MS
Engineer
Research Interests
biomechanics, robotics, prosthetic control, assistive technology
Jeff Weiss, MS
Bioengineer
Research Interests
neuroprosthetics, microstimulation, signal processing, robotics
Alumni
Emily Bird, MSW, CCRC
Research Coordinator
Research Interests
Assistive technology, spinal cord injury, wheelchair skills/maintenance, wheelchair transfers
Santosh Chandrasekaran, PhD
Research Interests
neuroprostheses, somatosensory feedback, embodiment
John Downey
Advisor: Jen Collinger
Research Interests
neuroprostheses, intracortical brain-computer interface, electrophysiology
Kevin Fleischmann
Advisor: Amit Sethi
Research Interests
Neuromuscular biomechanics, sports rehabilitation, force generation and measurement, injury prevention, ergonomics
Sharlene Flesher
PhD Student
Research Interests
brain-machine interface, somatosensory feedback, motor control, neuroprostheses
Simon Geukes
Advisor: Rob Gaunt
Research Interests
Brain Computer-Interfaces, neuroprosthetics, sensorimotor control, somatosensory feedback
Ahmed Jorge
Advisor: Jen Collinger
Research Interests
Surgical implants and prosthetics, brain-computer interfaces, stroke and spinal cord injury rehabilitation
Cody Wabiszewski
Engineer
Research Interests
neuroprosthetics, brain-computer interfaces
