ADVANCE Fellows Award

University Of Texas At San Antonio, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

This ADVANCE Fellows award is to support the academic career of the PI in engineering. The PI plans to develop a strong, coordinated program of research and education in biomedical engineering. The planned research consists of two lines of investigation: (i) continuation of her efforts to determine a correlation between the muscle control signal measured at the nerve, at the muscle and the force generated; (ii) development of a new area of research, gait analysis. The central hypothesis for the electrophysiology research is that an automated methodology can be designed to produce accurate information on central nervous system intent, and hence, a correlative index of activation can be derived. Bipedal gait (walking on two legs) is one of the most complex tasks to master, and normal gait is well documented. Computerized gait analysis provides very accurate information about joint motion muscle activation, and the PI plans to use this tool to study gait in diabetics. The broader impacts of this research are significant for health care delivery, with collaborations established with researchers in biology as well as engineering. The planned education activities include the further development of two graduate courses, one teaching mathematical skills for research and the other on gait analysis. It is expected that the these topics will be very attractive to women and Hispanic students, and the PI has a strong commitment to advancing diversity in this engineering field. The overall mission of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. It is anticipated that the ADVANCE award will not only advance the PI's career in academic science, but also allow her to serve as a role model and mentor to women students who are pursuing careers in academic science, engineering, or related fields. The award will be managed by two directorates, BES and ECS, given the nature of the research.