Category: Trainee Achievement

Caleb Thomson Receives the the SfN Trainee Professional Development Award

Congratulations to Caleb Thomson on being selected as a recipient of the Trainee Professional Development Award (TPDA) by the Society for Neuroscience (SfN). This prestigious award recognizes trainee researchers who have demonstrated scientific merit and excellence in research. As part of the award, Caleb will receive complimentary registration to the SfN 2022 Annual Meeting and $1,000 to help with travel costs to the conference. Additionally, Caleb will present his poster in a session with other awardees, attend at least two Professional Development Workshops, and access the TPDA online community for the next year.

At SfN, Caleb will present his work on improving myoelectric control for assistive robotic devices and inclusive virtual reality experiences.

MEC 2022 Student Podium Presentation Competition award winners: Connor Olsen (Left) First Place, and Monika Buczak (right) second place, with their professor Jacob A. George in the center

MEC Student Presentation Award Winners: Monika Buczak and Connor Olsen

 

Congratulations to Monika Buczak and Connor Olsen for their recent awards at the Myoelectric Controls Symposium (MEC) held in Fredericton, New Brunswick. The conference occurs every three years, and part of the conference includes the Student Podium Presentation Competition. This year, our lab walked away with both first and second place! Monika Buczak was awarded 2nd place for her presentation, Disentangling Sensory and Motor Deficits of Fine Hand Function Using An Electronic Grip Gauge (EGG) to Simulate Transferring Fragile Objects. Connor Olsen was awarded 1st place for his presentation, An Inexpensive and Adaptable Prosthetic Wrist Improves Dexterity and Reduces Compensatory Movements.

Our lab was well represented at MEC22, and we are immensely proud of all the presentations given. Find the conference proceedings here.

Caden Hamrick Summer Research

This summer, our lab hosted Caden Hamrick through the Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR). SPUR sponsors undergraduate students as full-time researchers for a 10-week program. Caden applied and was accepted to this program and completed his research through our lab. Caden was a dedicated worker and used his experience in deep learning to develop a control method to determine hand gestures and intensities from electromyographic muscle signals. Caden’s work contributes to the EMG wristband project that will be used for controlling smart devices around the home. Caden Presented his research at a University-wide symposium on August 4th.

Caden will be starting his senior year in Computer Engineering at Mercer University in Georgia this fall.

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Four Additional Undergraduate Fellowships!

Congratulations to Cassandra, Mia, Nathan, and Jérémi for being awarded undergraduate research fellowships for Spring 2022! Their award-winning research projects are listed below:

  • Cassandra Burdick: Developing a virtual reality environment to test out inclusive EMG control (Virtual Box and Blocks)
  • Mia Nelson: Training Convolutional Neural Networks to Recognize Myoelectric Signaling
  • Nathan Wallace: Low-Cost Wearable Upper-Limb Myoelectric Exoskeleton
  • Jérémi Godbout: Vibrotactile stimulation for the Tetraski and other adaptive sports

These prestigious research fellowships are awarded through the University of Utah’s Office of Undergraduate Research. Congratulations to these super-star undergraduates!

Abby Citterman Awarded Parent Scholarship

Congratulations to Abby Citterman for being awarded the Parent Scholarship at the University of Utah! This prestigious award is giving to top undergraduate researchers who have already received two undergraduate research fellowships. The Parent Fund is sustained by parents and supports student-centered programs and initiatives. The Parent Fund plays an integral role in the University of Utah’s ability to provide students with exceptional opportunities inside and outside the classroom. This year, Abby was one of four to be selected for the Parent Scholarship. Abby is now the second undergraduate in the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab to be a Parent Scholar. Aidan Lethaby also received the Parent Scholarship in 2020.

Caleb Awarded NSF Graduate Fellowship!

Caleb Thomson, a second-year PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering department, was awarded the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. This highly prestigious fellowship recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported STEM disciplines who are pursuing research-based master’s and doctoral degrees at accredited US institutions. The five-year fellowship includes three years of financial support including an annual stipend of $34,000 and a cost of education allowance of $12,000 to the institution. Caleb is one of 2500 fellows this year. Since 1952, the NSF has funded over 46,500 Graduate Research Fellowships out of over 500,000 applicants. Many former graduate fellows have gone on to become Nobel laureates and members of the National Academy of Sciences. Some well known NSF GRFP alumni include Eric Cornell, Steven Chu, Jennifer Richeson, Sergey Brin, Amy Mainzer, Steven Levitt, Burton Richter, and John C. Mather.

Abby Citterman inducted to Beehive Honor Society

Congratulations to Abby Citterman for being inducted into the Beehive Honor Society! The Beehive Honor Society (BHS) was founded at the University of Utah in 1913 for the purpose of honoring graduating seniors who have demonstrated leadership, scholarship, and service to the university and the community. On average, just one in 1,000 students at the U is inducted into Beehive. Among the society ’s 1,200-plus members and 20 honorary members are prominent leaders in medicine, academe, business, politics, and the arts. Sponsored by U Alumni, the society is the oldest local honor society on the U campus and is directed by a committee of former BHS inductees. Abby is the second NeuroRobotics Alumni to be accepted into the BHS. Adrian Porras joined the BHS in 2021.

Multiple Awards at the Utah Biomedical Engineering Conference!

Today we had six poster presentations and one podium presentation at the Annual Utah Biomedical Engineering Conference! We had presentations from:

  • Marshall Trout (FIRST-PLACE PODIUM PRESENTATION!): Improved Mirror-Therapy: Reanimation of Fine Motor Function Using Low-Cost Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation Driven by Synchronized Bilateral Movements
  • Caleb Thomson (FIRST-PLACE POSTER PRESENTATION!): Proportional Electromyographic Control of a Bionic Arm in a Participant with Chronic Hemiparesis, Muscle Spasticity, and Impaired Range of Motion
  • Monika Buczak: Instrumented Egg: Developing a Quantitative Assessment Tool of Hand Dexterity
  • Connor Olsen: Electromyographically Controlled Prosthetic Wrist Improves Dexterity and Reduces Compensatory Movements
  • Abby Citterman (THIRD-PLACE POSTER PRESENTATION!): A Universal, Low-Cost Transradial Socket for Validating New Myoelectric Prosthetic Control Strategies
  • Aidan Lethaby: A Low-Cost Portable and Intuitive Control System for Assistive Robotic Devices
  • Abby Harrison: Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation of the Wrist Evokes Sensations from the Fingers

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Caleb and Marshall Land Summer Internships at Ripple Neuro!

Congratulations to graduate students Marshall Trout and Caleb Thomson for accepting internship offers at Ripple Neuro this summer! Ripple is a leading manufacturer of electrophysiology equipment. They develop implanted electronics, high-channel-count stimulation and recording systems, and custom software for analyzing electrophysiological data. Ripple's technology is heavily used in the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab and other labs around the world. Ripple was founded in 2005 from previous alumni of the University of Utah's Center for Neural Interfaces, and Ripple is an integral part of the blossoming neurotech industry in Salt Lake City.

Gabriel Santana Awarded Research Fellowship

Congratulations to Gabriel Santana for being awarded an undergraduate research fellowship from the Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities! This $1,964 fellowship will support Gabe’s ongoing research to create artificial electromyography datasets to improve the control of myoelectric prostheses. The Western Alliance to Expand Student Opportunities Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (WAESO LSAMP) program is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded consortium of 13 educational institutions across Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. The WAESO program works to broaden the participation of students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines at the undergraduate student level and prepare students for advanced STEM degrees.