Category: Trainee Achievement

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

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.

Troy and Caleb pass the BME qualifying exam!

Congratulations to Troy Tully and Caleb Thomson for passing the biomedical engineering qualifying exam in neural engineering! As a part of the BME PhD program, students must demonstrate expertise of the subject matter within their track specialization (e.g., neural engineering). After completing the relevant coursework, they meet this requirement by passing an extensive 8-hour written qualifying exam. This is a long and grueling exam, but fortunately it is also typically the last written exam PhD students will ever take. After passing the exam, students who have completed their coursework are eligible to receive a milestone MS degree!

Three Additional Undergraduate Fellowships!

Congratulations to Abby, Jared and Rebecca for being awarded undergraduate research fellowships for Spring 2022! Their award-winning research projects are listed below:

  • Abby Harrison: Discriminability of Transcutaneous Sensory Feedback
  • Jared Zollinger: Surface-Electromyography Integrated Low-Cost Control System for Dexterous Bionic Arms
  • Rebecca Urban: Discriminability of Electrocutaneous Sensory Feedback

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

Michael Paskett Is Joining Facebook Reality Labs!

Congratulations to Michael Paskett for transitioning to an exciting new job at Facebook Reality Labs! He will be working on the development of a wrist-based neural interface to intuitively control augmented and virtual realities. Michael will be defending his dissertation in PhD student in Biomedical Engineering this semester. As a member of Center for Neural Interfaces, Michael played in integral role in developing various technologies currently being utilized in our NeuroRobotics Lab. Three notable contributions we now use regularly are: 1) a bypass socket that allows healthy individuals to control and test myoelectric prostheses, 2) a method for quantifying cognitive load associated with prosthetic control & feedback strategies, and 3) an integrated device for vibrotactile feedback of robotic devices. Michaels new role at Facebook Reality Labs is timely; the Utah NeuroRobotics Lab recently received a $150,000 grant from Facebook Reality Labs to ensure neural interfaces for controlling virtual and augmented reality are inclusive to all users.

Troy Tully receives Society for Neuroscience Award!

Congratulations to Troy Tully for being awarded the Society for Neuroscience Trainee Professional Development Award. This prestigious award recognizes graduate students who demonstrate scientific merit and excellence in research. And Troy has certainly demonstrated excellence in research! In just his first year of graduate school Troy has already achieved two co-authored manuscripts, two co-authored conference proceedings, four national podium presentations, and one first-author manuscript in preparation. Way to go Troy!

Abby Citterman Awarded BMES Travel Award!

Congratulations to Abby Citterman for winning a $500 travel award to present her research at the Biomedical Engineering Society. Abby will be giving a podium presentation on her research, titled, "Low Frequencies Improve Intensity Discrimination for Electrocutaneous Artificial Sensory Feedback," in Orlando Florida this October. The travel award was provided from the University of Utah Office for Undergraduate Research.