Benjamin Conner (Google Scholar, LinkedIn) got an MD/PhD in clinical translational sciences from University of Arizona, shares his journey from studying biology and anthropology to biomechanics and exoskeleton implementation. He discusses the importance of mentors and the impact of movement as medicine. Ben explains the role of an MD/PhD in bridging the gap between basic science research and clinical care. He highlights the challenges of the translational valley of death and the disconnect between research priorities and patient needs. Ben also provides an overview of his PhD work on using an exoskeleton device as a training system for children with cerebral palsy. During his PhD, Ben also designed No Limits mobile app, a resource for paraplegic and quadriplegic athletes. This episode was powered by:  Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE) at the University of Washington Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA)

Rita Stanely (LinkedIn) is a long-time advocate for making assistive technology more accessible. She has worked in and around the policy-making world for several decades and dedicated her life understanding how science can influence policy. In this episode, we have covered the topics of policy making in the spaces of rehab engineering and assistive tech, what researchers in AT should know about reimbursement codes and policy when developing new tech to ensure its accessible to the intended population, and how our government's view has changed about the importance of providing rehab and assistive tech in the last 20 years. This episode was powered by:  Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences (CREATE) at the University of Washington  Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA)

Ben Schouten (Google Scholar, personal webpage) is a proffessor of Playful Interactions in Smart Environments at Eindhoven University of Technology and a lector of Play & Civic Media Research at Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences. His work focuses on play and design for social innovations, citizen empowerment, and culture as well as toy development for the purpose of rehabilitation. In this episode, Ben and I covered what serious games are, his work in incorporating playful interactions in medical settings, the powerful use of mixed-reality games to "step into someone's shoes", and the importance of participatory design. Links to some of his work: Assessing Children’s Fine Motor Skills With Sensor-Augmented Toys: Machine Learning Approach (link) Magic Monster (link) Mixed-Reality Work (link) Participative societies creating new challenges for the water sector (link) Sept 2016 "Games and Playful Interaction" talk (link)

Spero Koulouras is a computer engineer by training and an entrepreneur by heart. One of his latest ventures is Auli.Tech, a company that designs open-source applications and devices enabling individuals to overcome intramuscular and vocal impairments. In this episode, Spero discusses his journey in the tech industry and his experience with ALS diagnosis 5 years ago, which got him on the path of developing assistive technologies like Cato. Cato is a small device that uses motion recognition and AI to enable control of things such as computer mouse, keyboard, game controller, and even a harness. **If you're a qualified Assistive Tech professional interested in giving Cato a try for FREE, please fill out this form ** The accessible transcript of this episode is available here.

Nataliya Rokhmanova (Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Scholar) is a PhD student in the joint program between Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Germany and Carnegie Mellon University in the US. In this episode, we discussed the role of haptics, specifically vibro-tactile feedback, in helping humans improve the way they walk, the benefits of participating in an international PhD program, and her incredible work teaching researchers how to make their scientific figures more readable, engaging, and appealing to improve science communication. Resources: SciFig repository for the workshop on explaining scientific findings through figures in publications, presentations, and posters - linkPaper "Comparing preference of ankle–foot stiffness in below-knee amputees and prosthetists" - linkPaper "Remotely delivered, individualized, and self-directed gait modification for knee osteoarthritis: A pilot trial" - linkDAAD scholarships aimed primarily at graduates, doctoral students and and are awarded for study and research visits to universities and non-university research institutions in Germany - link

Dr. Alyssa Spomer (LinkedIn, Google Scholar) got her PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. Her work focused on biofeedback technology to improve motor control in children with cerebral palsy and worked on understanding how interpretable machine learning methods can be used to identify factors of response to a resistive ankle exoskeleton (Biomotum). In this episode, we discussed what it takes to write a winning NSF Graduate Research Fellowship application, how common emulation of disabled gait patterns are in rehab engineering research, and how different doing science in a hospital in comparison to academia.

In this episode, I talked with Maureen Linden, an executive director of the Center for Inclusive Design and Innovation at Georgia Tech and a former president of Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America (RESNA). The topic of our discussion was RESNA's Guidelines and Priorities for Assistive Technology and Rehabilitation Engineering Research. We discussed several aspects of how research in rehab engineering and AT should be pursued, such as user involvement, universal design approach, science translation, and performance standards. We also went over what areas RESNA identified as research priorities to be pursued back in 2014 when the last version of the guidelines was created. This episode is powered by: ⁠⁠CREATE ⁠⁠(the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) at the University of Washington⁠⁠RESNA ⁠⁠(the Rehabilitation Engineering and assistive technology Society of North America)⁠⁠NIDILRR ⁠⁠ARRT Training grant 90ARCP0005-01-00

Jessica Garries (LinkedIn) received her BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Washington. During her undergraduate capstone project for the Engineering Innovation in Health class, she and her classmates got to work on transforming an existing exoskeleton for individuals with stroke from Cadence Biomedical into a pediatric solution for children with cerebral palsy - PlayGait. Jessica’s capstone team later patented the exoskeleton and she continued to develop it during her Master’s degree, receiving $95,000 in funding to support her work. Her work with PlayGait didn’t stop even after Jessica joined Orthocare Innovations, a Seattle-based R&D company focused on developing providing prosthetic, orthotic, and rehabilitation solutions. In this episode, we covered her path to assistive technologies, doing research in an industry setting, and various aspects that go into making an innovation successful. This episode is powered by: ⁠CREATE ⁠(the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) at the University of Washington⁠RESNA ⁠(the Rehabilitation Engineering and assistive technology Society of North America)⁠NIDILRR ⁠ARRT Training grant 90ARCP0005-01-00

Dr. Kim Ingraham (LinkedIn, Twitter) is an assistant professor at the University of Washington in the Department of Electrical &Computer Engineering. Kim has an extensive research background creating personalized controllers for lower-limb assistive robotics, such as exoskeletons and prosthetics, and evaluating powered mobility devices for children with disabilities. In this episode, we discussed her winding path to academic research, from an internship at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab to a faculty position and leading her own lab (Ingraham Lab) at the University of Washington. This episode is powered by: ⁠CREATE ⁠(the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) at the University of Washington⁠RESNA ⁠(the Rehabilitation Engineering and assistive technology Society of North America)⁠NIDILRR ⁠ARRT Training grant 90ARCP0005-01-00

Dr. Fatma Inanici (LinkedIn, Twitter) is a research faculty at the University of Washington’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, who has started her academic career back in Turkey, studying fibromyalgia. In this episode, we talked about how she has been applying the spinal stimulation technology to restore hand function in individuals with spinal cord injury and stroke, the opportunities of noninvasive interventions, and cultural differences that affect how research is conducted in different countries. We also discussed unexpected yet positive effects of spinal stimulation on individuals with disabilities, such as improving thermoregulation, heart rate, and so much more. List of Resources: New therapy helps some regain motion lost to spinal injury New treatment allows some people with spinal cord injury to regain hand and arm function This episode is powered by: ⁠CREATE ⁠(the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) at the University of Washington⁠RESNA ⁠(the Rehabilitation Engineering and assistive technology Society of North America)⁠NIDILRR ⁠ARRT Training grant 90ARCP0005-01-00

Charlotte Caskey (LinkedIn) is a fifth year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington at the Steele Lab. Her work focuses on studying how non-invasive spinal stimulation affects walking and neuromechanics in children with cerebral palsy. In this episode, we discussed her road to where she is now, the opportunities the non-invasive spinal stimulation brought to the field of lower-limb rehabilitation, what the hopes for it are in the research and rehab communities, and how to strive for the balance between research in clinical settings and outside world. More on the spinal stimulation work can be found below. List of resources: Research at the Restorative Technologies Laboratory at the University of Washington - http://depts.washington.edu/moritlab/?page_id=95New treatment allows some people with spinal cord injury to regain hand and arm function (UW News) - https://www.ece.uw.edu/spotlight/spinal-stimulation/ This episode is powered by: ⁠CREATE ⁠(the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) at the University of Washington⁠RESNA ⁠(the Rehabilitation Engineering and assistive technology Society of North America)⁠NIDILRR ⁠ARRT Training grant 90ARCP0005-01-00

Mia Hoffman is a third-year PhD student (personal page, Twitter) at the University of Washington’s Steele Lab. Her main research motto is “Let kids be kids”, and all of her work is a true reflection of it. In just two years at UW, she has engaged in multiple projects that we discussed in this episode that focus on early childhood mobility (ride-on cars and harness systems) and the development of simple switch access toolkits to improve accessibility of toys for kids of all abilities. We also discussed the importance of qualitative research in the field of assistive tech and touched on how accessibility of research environments for people with disabilities. Mia shared a great deal of useful resources with us that are available below. LIST OF RESOURCES: PUMA (The Portable Mobility Aid for Children) by Enliten LLCHuskyADAPT (Accessible Design And Play Technology) at the University of WashingtonGo Baby Go Powered Mobility ProgramFrog Mobility DeviceWizzybugBugzi Mobility Device This episode is powered by: ⁠CREATE ⁠(the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) at the University of Washington⁠RESNA ⁠(the Rehabilitation Engineering and assistive technology Society of North America)⁠NIDILRR ⁠ARRT Training grant 90ARCP0005-01-00

Dr. Elijah Kuska (Twitter, Google Scholar profile) received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington at the Steele Lab. His dissertation is titled In Silico Techniques to Improve Understanding of Gait in Cerebral Palsy and can be accessed here. We talked about the applicability of computation biomechanics and modeling in rehab engineering, discussed synergies and the never-ending debate around them, the importance of improving accessibility in higher education, and his goals for the teaching professor position at the Colorado School of Mines. This episode is powered by: CREATE (the Center for Research and Education on Accessible Technology and Experiences) at the University of WashingtonRESNA (the Rehabilitation Engineering and assistive technology Society of North America)NIDILRR ARRT Training grant 90ARCP0005-01-00

Learn more about what is in store at "Gears of Progress", a podcast about exciting research and innovations in rehabilitation engineering and assistive technologies.