Motor Control Laboratory
Directed by Dr. Richard Van Emmerik, the Motor Control lab is interested in motor control and its relation with human posture and locomotion. The lab particularly focuses on mechanisms of stability and adaptability in movement coordination.
Doctoral Candidate: Avelino Amado
Education & Projects
Avelino has been a longtime member of the Kinesiology department at UMass starting as an undergraduate student who later moved on to attend graduate school at the Masters and now at the Doctorate level. During his time as an undergrad, Avelino was a member of the UMass Amherst Marching Band. He wondered how he and other band members were able to maintain posture while walking and carrying large instruments, as other people without experience had difficulty doing so. Avelino was intrigued by the human body's ability to adapt to stimuli and maintain posture while walking, spurring the creation of his Masters thesis. This idea was transformed into understanding the neuromotor process behind teaching older adults to dribble two basketballs with both hands simultaneously. Avelino wanted to study a topic related to walking that was more applicable for his Doctoral disseratation.
While at a restaurant, Avelino noticed a waiter walking across the room holding a stack of plates and wondered how the waiter was able to maintain his balance of both his body and the plates in his hand. Eventually, he decided to use this question as his doctoral dissertation because it was very applicable. Hands tend to be involved with walking as older adults often fall with objects in their hands. Avelino was able to discover a question inspired by his own observations in his life, but was unable to find answers to his question.
"When I kept not being able to find answers, I realized that I found a very big gap in the literature because when you start talking about things at that level, you have to involve the whole body"
Here is a video submission of his dissertaion to the International Society of Biomechanics in Sport National Biomechanics Day 2-minute-tweet competition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv8Y210zE7o
Applicability
Avelino chose a functional task for his doctoral dissertation to increase the applicability of his studies into other related fields like robotics and clinical therapy. In order to design a humanoid robot that can walk and hold objects in its hand, mechanisms behind that action must be understood. Since the older adult population is growing, it is important to understand how activities of daily living affect whole body movements to reduce the risk of falls.
Careers
The American Association for Advancing Science (AAA) offers PhD students a fellowship opportunity to work in news outlets as science communicators. Graduate students can be involved in science policy which ultimately dictates the capabilities of science and research.
Avelino co-authored this article published by the Boston Globe explaining how federal budget cuts restrict research and community education efforts. The article discusses how cuts in federal funding will reduce educational involvement with communities as well as limit resources of museums and libraries.
Avelino initially considered working in Academia, but changed his mind due to the demands of the job. Professor and lecturer positions at universities are dependent on university job openings and are sporadic. Avalino prefers to have the freedom of choosing where to live. As a PhD candidate, Avelino noticed that the amount of PhD students graduating is far more than the amount of jobs open for PhD graduates. For graduates uninterested in following the route of Academia, Avelino hopes to provide professional guidance.
To learn more about the Motor Control lab, explore https://www.umass.edu/motorcontrol/members.html
Biomechanics Laboratory
Directed by Dr. Katherine Boyer and Dr. Graham Caldwell, the Biomechanics lab conducts studies on the fundamental and clinical aspects of human locomotion through the application of mechanical principles and scientific methodology. Research in the lab focuses on three major areas: lower extremity mechanics during locomotion; muscle mechanics and modeling; computer simulations of human movement.
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Equipment identified from left to right: 19x Qualisys Oqus 3-Series cameras; Instrumented (force-measuring treadmill); Biodex System 4 dynamometer; Woodway treadmill; Instrumented (force- and position-measuring) bicycle pedal.
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Doctoral Candidate: Russell Johnson
Education
Education
Russell graduated from Springfield College with a Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science. He was first introduced to lab work at Springfield College, assisting in research that utilized electromyographies (EMG). Russell then moved on to attend UMass for a Kinesiology Masters degree in the Biomechanics lab and then transitioned into his Doctoral program in which he is working to finish.
Current Project
Russell is particularly interested in biomechanical determinants of human locomotion, studying how and why humans walk the way they do.
"I am interested in how and why we walk the way we do, understanding the components that influence the gait pattern"
For his Masters thesis, he studied to better understand the determinants for the amounts of energy muscles consume during the walking gait. With this, he discovered that humans choose certain walking patterns that minimize the amount of energy expended/ energy consumed by muscles.
Closely extending off of Russel's Masters thesis is his doctoral dissertation which is centered on the influence of instructions effect the way people choose to move.
"People generally want to move with the least amount of energy possible, but if you give them a task to do, they want to get the task done first even if it costs more energy"
Future and Careers
After completing his Doctorate degree at UMass, Russell plans to become a postdoctoral fellow at The University of Southern California in order to further develop his research skills to prepare himself for a faculty position in academia.
Within biomechanics there many opportunities outside of academia including Industry positions. Sports companies hire biomechanists to do research on their apparel, shoes or equipment.
Sports teams hire biomechanists, typically in baseball to analyse players and reduce risk of injury. Forensic biomechanists evaluate how injuries occur in accidents, most often in car crashes. When a court case is involved with the accident, there is typically a forensic biomechanist to give an expert testimony regarding the forces that may or may not have injured the person.
Lastly, biomechanist are able to work in ergonomics to design and organize a work place in order to reduce energy expenditure as well as reduce risk of injury, typically within warehouses.
To learn more about the Biomechanics lab, explore https://www.umass.edu/biomechanics/
Locomotion Neuromechanics Laboratory
Directed by Dr. Julia Choi, the Locomotion Neuromechanics lab is interested in understanding the principles of motor learning and neuroplasticity, the brains ability to reorganize synaptic connections in response to learning. Part of The Department of Kinesiology and Neuroscience and Behavior Program at UMass, the lab collaborates with researchers in neuroscience, biomechanics, rehabilitation, engineering and robotics to connect ideas across multiple viewpoints.
Doctoral Student: Sumire Sato
Sumire studied Human Physiology at Boston University and continued to go to Emory University in
Atlanta, Georgia for Physical Therapy (PT) school as she was deeply interested in human anatomy. PT school was the most intensive three academic years Sumire has experienced with classes from 8 am-5 pm, additional research and studying.
At PT school, Sumire experienced work within the different realms of PT, orthopedic physical therapy, inpatient care, and outpatient care. She disliked how orthopedic therapy similar to outpatient care were both service oriented and highly competitive, giving patients the choice to choose their preferred therapist. Insurance billing became an issue that complicated rehabilitation treatment for outpatient care and orthopedic rehabilitation settings. Through the repeated treatment of lower back pain, knee and ankle injuries, Sumire became uninterested in treatment of outpatients. Patients with additional complications who are usually admitted from a doctor's order are sent to inpatient care. Inpatient physical therapists work in hospitals alongside physicians and nurses to determine if the patient is physically capable enough to independently move in their homes.
During a neural rehabilitation rotation at PT school, Sumire realized that there was a lack of research within the field of PT. The intervention used to treat neural injuries were not evidence based, pushing her to explore the processes behind neural rehabilitation and adaptation.
"Right now, physical therapy rehabilitation intervention used to treat neural injuries are not evidence based, and neural processes are not understood"
Sumire transferred her interest in neural rehab from PT school to UMass as a Doctoral student in the neuroscience department.
Current Project
Sumire is currently studying the changes in corticospinal drive with a split belt treadmill in older individuals. A split belt treadmill is a treadmill split in half with the ability of each belt to move at different speeds. The two belts moving at different speeds induce adaptions to occur in the nervous system. Older adults who are otherwise healthy have an increased risk for falls. Sumire is proposing that difficulty adapting to the split belt treadmill is due to complications with corticospinal
activation in older adults.
Future
Sumire is concerned with doing research at the moment but is considering contributing her research to PT, conducting research on non-evidence based intervention.
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