Three Washkewicz College of Engineering faculty were awarded a $1.5 million grant from the NSF for a four-year project to develop a prosthetic leg that emulates able-bodied gait and utilizes a groundbreaking energy-regeneration system. The device promises to dramatically improve the quality of life for people with transfemoral (above-knee) amputations. With current prostheses, these amputees typically walk with a stiff-legged gait, which quickly can lead to other health issues, including degenerative joint disease. Innovative energy-regeneration technology will allow the new prosthesis to operate for significantly longer intervals than current prostheses, which require frequent battery charges. Award recipients Dan Simon, Hanz Richter and Antonie van den Bogert bring unique expertise to the project. Dr. Simon, professor of electrical and computer engineering, specializes in microprocessor design and optimization. Dr. Richter, associate professor of mechanical engineering, specializes in mechanical systems and controls. Dr. van den Bogert, the Parker Hannifin Endowed Chair in CSU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, is a leading authority on biomechanics and gait analysis. The team is conducting their research in the new Parker Hannifin Human Motion and Control Laboratory at CSU. Prosthesis testing will employ robot technology; human trials will be conducted at the Cleveland VA Medical Center.
An interdisciplinary faculty team was awarded a $1 million NSF grant to train high school educators to teach a new standardized advanced placement course in computer science. The Computing in Secondary Schools (CISS) program is part of a joint effort by the NSF and the U.S. Department of Education to train 10,000 computer science teachers in 10,000 high schools across the United States. Led by Nigamanth Sridhar, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, the CSU team includes Karla Hamlen, assistant professor of educational research; Santosh Misra, professor of computer and information science; and Debbie Jackson, associate professor of STEM teacher education. The team also includes Beth Simon of the University of California, San Diego. The CISS team will provide professional development to teachers across Ohio via the Ohio STEM Learning Network, helping them hone the skills required to teach the new AP Computer Science Principles course which Dr. Simon helped design. The first cohort of teachers will attend an introductory workshop this summer, and will receive follow-up support throughout the year. The project also will create an online course on computer science education. The CISS program was developed by the Washkewicz College of Engineering, College of Education and Human Services and Monte Ahuja College of Business, as well as CSU’s Office of Research.
Want an in-depth look at what faculty are doing? Tune in to CSU’s new Featured Researcher Video Series. Created by the Office of Research, the videos “shine a spotlight on the outstanding researchers at CSU who are making exciting advances in a wide variety of fields," says Jerzy Sawicki, vice president for research. To date, six faculty members have been highlighted – Bibo Li, associate professor of biological, geological and environment sciences, who is studying a parasite that causes sleeping sickness in humans; Dan Simon, Ton van den Bogert and Hanz Richter, who are developing a prosthetic leg; Mark Souther, associate professor of history and director of the Center for Public History + Digital Humanities at CSU, who specializes in urban decline and revitalization and perceptions of metropolitan change; Rachel Carnell, professor of English, an expert in the political history of the British novel; Ben Clark, assistant professor of urban studies, who specializes in public policy, public management, and public budgeting/finance; and Peter Bubenik, associate professor of mathemetics, whose specialty is topology. A new installment is posted monthly at csuohio.edu/research/featured-researcher-videos. To learn more about the initiatives and programs in the Office of Research, read the newsletter at www.csuohio.edu/research/newsletters/index. html, “like” the Facebook page, or follow on Twitter (@CSUResearch).
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