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Xiaogang Hu, PhD Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Neurorehabilitation Associate Professor Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Kinesiology, and Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Center for Neural Engineering Xiaogang Hu received his BE (2006) in the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanology at Tsinghua University in China. He then received a PhD (2011) degree in Kinesiology with a focus on neural control of muscle force, and a minor in Computational Science in the Department of Aerospace Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He received his postdoctoral training at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago / Northwestern University. |
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Long Meng, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Long Meng received his BS degree in applied physics from Northeastern University, Shenyang, China, in 2011. He then received his MS degree in circuits and systems and his PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering from Fudan University, Shanghai, China, in 2018 and 2023, respectively. He has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the Penn State Neuromechanics Lab since 2023. His research interests lie in biomedical engineering, focusing on wearable sensor systems, biomedical signal processing, stroke rehabilitation, and personalized health monitoring. |
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Susan Coltman, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Susan Coltman holds a BA in Psychology, with a minor in Neuroscience, from Princeton University and earned an MSc at Trent University in Canada. She earned her PhD at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, in which the breadth of her research leveraged the behavioural analysis of upper-limb movements, combined with both computational modelling and electromyography, to study motor adaptation. Susan joined Dr. Hu’s lab at Penn State in the fall of 2023 as a presidential postdoctoral fellow. Her work will focus on how our brains combine different artificial sensory inputs, impacting both stroke patients and the control of prosthetic devices. |
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Sean Thomas, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow Sean Thomas earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Microengineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Switzerland, completing his studies in 2017. He received a PhD at EPFL in Robotics in 2022, focused on the development of innovative actuators using smart materials. Following his Ph.D., Sean embarked on a postdoctoral fellowship at Penn State, where he dedicated his efforts to the advancement of implantable actuators aimed at improving gait rehabilitation. He joined Dr. Hu’s lab in Spring 2024, primarily focused on the development of biomedical devices and the innovation of upper-limb exoskeletons. |
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Tianze Ma PhD Student Tianze Ma received his BS degree in Electrical Engineering at Purdue University in 2021 and his MS degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCLA in 2023. His main research interests include neural signal processing, neural-machine interface, and machine learning. He joined the Neuromechanics Lab at Penn State since 2023 and will be pursuing his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering. His research goal is to develop neuroengineering techniques to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities. |
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Yuwen Ruan PhD Student Yuwen Ruan received her B.E. (2020) degree in Electronic Information Engineering from Wuhan University, China. She then received her M.E. (2023) degree in Biomedical Engineering from University of Science and Technology of China, China. She joined Dr. Hu’s lab at Penn State in 2023 and will pursue her Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering. Her research interests lie in biomedical signal processing, human-computer interface, and neurorehabilitation engineering. |
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Chengzhe Jia PhD Student Chengzhe Jia received his B.E. (2020) degree in Measurement and Control Technique and Equipment from the Beijing University of Technology, China. He then earned his M.S. (2023) degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of California San Diego, USA. In Fall 2024, he joined the Neuromechanics Lab at the Pennsylvania State University as a Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering. His research interests include Haptic Devices, Soft Robotics, Robotic Design, and Human-Machine Interactions. |
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Liyuan Ma PhD Student Liyuan Ma received her BS degree in Biomedical Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong University in 2022 and her MS degree in Biomedical Engineering at CMU in 2024. She became a member of Dr. Hu’s lab at Penn State in 2024, and will pursue her PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering. Her research goal is to enhance people’s quality of life through the development of novel neural engineering devices. Her main research interests include neural-machine interfaces, artificial sensory inputs in prosthetic devices, neural signal processing, and deep learning. |
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Quentin Anderson-Watson PhD Student Quentin received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State in 2024, where he did research in human-centered robotics. Since 2024, he has been a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering co-mentored by Dr. Katie Fitzsimons. Quentin has been interested in robotics since a very young age. Quentin enjoys watching anime, playing video games, and exercising in his free time. |
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Tomas Quesada Master Student Tomas received his B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering at Penn State. He is a graduate student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Throughout the course of college and various internships, Tomas became passionate about the field of robotics and how it can improve people’s lives. While not anything school related, he likes to read books (fantasy and sci-fi), cook, and workout. |
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Undergraduate Students Each year, we have several undergraduate students working in the lab. |
Owen Vreeland @ ESM William Riggs @ BME Clara da Silva @ BME Ethan Palmer @ ME Mustapha Al Hassan @ ME Isaac Arbelaez @ Schreyer Tina Zhang @ EE |
ALUMNI
Graduate Students
Henry Shin, PhD, UNC (2016-2019), Application Engineer, Ripple Neuro
Luis Vargas, PhD, UNC (2017-2021), Research Scientist, ARCCA
Feng Xu, MS, UNC (2019-2021), RBI
Zhiyu Zhang, MS, PSU (2022-2023)
Noah Rubin, PhD, UNC (2018-2023), Staff Scientist, NIH
Postdoctoral Scholars
Yang Zheng, PhD, UNC (2017-2020), Associate Professor, Xi’an Jiaotong University
Chenyun Dai, PhD, UNC (2016-2019), Associate Professor, Fudan University
Rinku Roy, PhD, UNC (2021-2023), AHA Postdoctoral Fellow, NC State University
Kai Zhang, PhD, PSU (2023-2024), Postdoctoral Fellow, UT Health Houston
Jiahao Fan, PhD, PSU (2022-2024), Assistant Professor, UT Health Houston
Undergraduate Students
UNC/NCSU students: Elena Fernandez, Nita Prabhu, Rohan Krishnan, Jenevieve Surkin, Jason Xie, Cameron Schmitt, Sarah Kubik, Jeehyun Kim, Ryan Chen, Kristyna Herman, Bilal Mahmood, Ellie Wilson, Marwan Hawari, Graham Whitehouse, Alexandra Yanoschak, Ciku Makumi, Ausvin Khanna, Sydney Cheek, Kayla Thompson, Lauren Stinson, Guijin Li, Emily Fawcett, Zach Watkins, Bradley Davis
PSU Students: Mary Wilson, Estrella Medina
NCSSM students: Dhruv Ranganath, Afzaa Rahman, Christopher Ewart, Renee Zhang, Madeline Smith, Leonel Jimenez