色花堂

Ph.D. in Kinesiology with an emphasis in Motor Behavior

This emphasis provides students with the experimental, theoretical, and analytical tools necessary to investigate the basic processes and mechanisms underlying motor control and learning. The results will provide improved training and rehabilitation for special needs populations, including athletes, astronauts, performing artists, patients coping with movement disorders or recovering from traumatic injuries, and normal individuals adjusting to the functional consequences of aging. Graduates of the program will have an expertise in biomechanics, kinesiology, sensorimotor physiology, movement disorders and rehabilitation; and will be qualified to pursue research careers in academia, medical research institutes, government laboratories or corporate research and development centers

The Ph.D. in Kinesiology with an emphasis in motor behavior program is designed for students interested in:

• Adaptive sensorimotor control
• Biomechanics and energetics of posture and gait
• Basic and translational research models
• Elite and at-risk populations
• Research careers in academia, rehabilitation, space, etc.

Motor Behavior Faculty

	Dr. Stacey Gorniak   My research interest is in identifying biomechanical and neurological changes of adults and older adults due to cardiometabolic disease. Work undertaken by my lab integrates traditional behavioral approaches in biomechanics and motor control with techniques from imaging technologies and blood-based biomarkers to better understand how diseases such as Type II Diabetes (along with its common comorbidities: obesity, neuropathy, cognitive impairment, disordered sleep, and hypertension) impact how individuals perceive and interact with their environments across the lifespan.
	Dr. Charles Layne Development of human coordination, investigation of locomotion/posture control and the role of somatosensory input on muscle contraction.
	Dr. Beom-Chan Lee Designing and developing real-time biofeedback technology to prevent and reduce falls by leveraging fall recovery performance, designing and developing a cell phone based platform for home-based balance rehabilitation and fall prevention applications, designing and developing a wearable sensory augmentation system, characterizing non-volitional human motor behavior (postural responses) to torso-based vibrotactile stimulation.
	Dr. Daniel O'Connor   Evaluation of subject-level outcomes and effects; measurement of health, health-related quality of life, and health-related behaviors; measurement error, validity, linear models, and latent variable models.
	Dr. Pranav Parikh Sensorimotor mechanisms for motor control and learning in healthy young individuals, older adults, and patients with neurological diseases and injury. Therapeutic strategies to improve sensorimotor function in older adults and patient populations.
	Dr. Seoung Hoon Park Underlying neurophysiological mechanisms for deficient motor control and learning in elder adults and individuals with neurological diseases such as stroke and spinal cord injury. Developing novel rehabilitation tools. Behavioral and neural changes in response to rehabilitative interventions
	Dr. Adam Thrasher Neuromuscular physiology and motor learning; Biomechanics and gait analysis; Electrical stimulation of paralyzed muscles to restore function; Rehabilitation engineering; Pathological locomotion.

Control of posture and locomotion are complex functions that rely on coordinated interactions between the nervous system, the musculo-skeletal system, the cardiovascular system, and the environment. To study these functions, brings together interdisciplinary research teams having expertise in engineering, physiology, clinical medicine, psychology, human factors, physics, mathematics, and computer science.