PI: Francisco Valero-Cuevas, Ph.D.



[email protected]

Francisco’s Bio
I attended Swarthmore College from 1984-88 where I obtained a BS degree in Engineering. After spending a year in the Indian subcontinent as a Thomas J Watson Fellow, I joined Queen’s University in Ontario and worked with Dr. Carolyn Small. The research for my Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Queen’s focused on developing non-invasive methods to estimate the kinematic integrity of the wrist joint.
In 1991, I joined the doctoral program in the Design Division of the Mechanical Engineering Department at Stanford University. I worked with Dr. Felix Zajac developing a realistic biomechanical model of the human digits. This research, done at the Rehabilitation R & D Center in Palo Alto, focused on predicting optimal coordination patterns of finger musculature during static force production.
After completing my doctoral degree in 1997, I joined the core faculty of the Biomechanical Engineering Division at Stanford University as a Research Associate and Lecturer. In 1999, I joined the faculty of the Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Cornell University as Assistant Professor, and was tenured in 2005. In 2007, I joined the faculty at the Department of Biomedical Engineering, and the Division of Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California as Associate Professor; where I was promoted to Full Professor in 2011. In 2013 I was elected Senior Member of the IEEE, and in 2014 to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineers. In 2018, I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Biology from Swarthmore College.


PostDocs

  • Picture of Andrew
    Andrew Erwin, Ph.D.
    Postdoctoral Research Associate
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Website
    Investigating the contributions of corticospinal and reticulospinal tracts to motor impairment and recovery after stroke.


Ph.D. Students


  • Suraj Chakravarthi Raja
    Ph.D. Candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Using FPGA-accelerated neuromorphic computing to enable dexterous manipulation in tendon-driven neuro-robots.

  • Angelo Bartsch Jimenez
    Ph.D. Student in Biokinesiology
    M.Sc. in Statistics
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Interested in how the brain uses somatosensory information to control the human movement.

  • Grace Niyo
    Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    I am interested in Sensorimotor Integration, Brain-Machine Interface, Assistive and Rehabilitative devices.

  • Mohammad Hesam Azadjou
    Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Website
    Research in Data Analysis, Bio-inspired Robotics, and Machine Learning.

  • Romina Mir
    Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Studying the role of sensory information in autonomous robotic manipulation.

  • Miguel Parra
    Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    My interests are in neuromorphic computing and all things brain computer interface.

  • Majid Abbasi Sisara
    Ph.D. Student in Biokinesiology
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Interested in neuroscience and brain mapping.

  • Arya Salgaonkar
    Ph.D. Student in Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy
    [email protected]
    Interested in understanding the impact of motor learning contingency paradigms on motor control during tummy time in typically developing and preterm infant.


  • Lama Almofeez
    Ph.D. Student in Biomedical Engineering
    [email protected]
    Brain-Computer Interfaces.


Lab Members

Information for Prospective Interns


  • Natalie Fung
    M.S. Student in Communications Data Science
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Interested in disability and rehabilitation engineering. Webmaster.

  • Cristina Acuna
    B.S. Student in Human Biology
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn

  • Xinlei Yu
    M.S. Student in Computer Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Interested in building cyber-physical systems and full-stack web technologies.

  • Alan Perez Capistran
    M.S. Student in Biomedical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Interested in neural interfaces for human movement restoration.

  • Shubham Kailas Awhad
    M.S. Student in Mechanical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Mechanical design, design optimization, advanced manufacturing, kinematics and mechanics.

  • Martino Porcu
    B.S. Student in Biomedical Engineering (Mol-Cell emphasis)
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn

  • Hesam Setayesh
    M.S. Student in Biomedical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Biomedical data analysis, mechanical designing, machine learning.

  • Zeyu (Claude) Yao
    M.S. Student in Mechanical Engineering
    [email protected]
    LinkedIn
    Interested in mechanical design & manufacture of robots and dynamics & control.




Doctoral Alumni

Darío Urbina-Meléndez - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2023: LinkedIn
Pegah Ojaghi - Ph.D. Computer Engineering, 2023
Ali Marjaninejad - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2021: LinkedIn | Website
Jasmine Berry - Ph.D. Computer Science, 2020: LinkedIn | Website
Dan Hagen - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2020: LinkedIn | Website
Brian Cohn - Ph.D. Computer Science, 2020: LinkedIn | Website
Akira Nagamori - Ph.D. Biokinesiology, 2020: LinkedIn | Website
Na-hyeon (Hannah) Ko - Ph.D. Biokinesiology, 2016: LinkedIn | Website
Emily Lawrence - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2016: LinkedIn
Alexander Reyes - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2015: LinkedIn
Sudarshan Dayanidhi - Ph.D. Biokinesiology, 2012: LinkedIn | Website
Joshua Inouye - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2012
Kornelius Rácz - Ph.D. Neuroscience, 2012
Manish Kurse - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering, 2012: LinkedIn
Evangelos Theodorou - Ph.D. Computer Science, 2011
Daniel Brown - Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, 2007
Veronica Santos - Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, 2007: LinkedIn | Website
Madhusudhan Venkadesan - Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, 2007: LinkedIn | Website

Postdoctoral Alumni

Ali Marjaninejad, Ph.D. - 2022: LinkedIn | Website
Kian Jalaleddini, Ph.D. - 2017: LinkedIn
Jun Yong Shin, Ph.D. - 2017: LinkedIn
Christopher Laine, Ph.D. - 2016: LinkedIn
Isabella Fassola, M.D. - 2014
Srideep Musuvathy, Ph.D. - 2013: LinkedIn
Jason Kutch, Ph.D. - 2010: Website
Heiko Hoffmann, Ph.D. - 2009
Weiwei Li, Ph.D. - 2008
Kevin Keenan, Ph.D. - 2007: LinkedIn | Website
Robert Clewley, Ph.D. - 2007: Website
Madhusudhan Venkadesan, Ph.D. - 2007: LinkedIn | Website
Sanjay Kumar, Ph.D. - 2007
John Rieffel, Ph.D. - 2007
Robert Clewley, Ph.D. - 2007
Stephanie Roach, M.D. - 2007
Chandana Paul, Ph.D. - 2005
Natalia Castillo, M.D. - 2001

Sabbatical and Visiting Faculty

Maria Makarov - SUPELEC, Paris, France - 2014
Robert Riener - Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems, ETF Zurich - 2013
Marta Covadonga Mora Aguilar - Universitat Jaume I, Spain - 2010
Anupam Saxena - IIT Kanpur - 2007
Jae Woong Yi - Agency of Defense Development, South Korea - 2005

Internship Alumni

Darren Huang - M.S. Computer Engineering and Computer Science - 2023: LinkedIn
Brendan Flanagan - B.S. Mechanical Engineering - 2023
Abhilash Kulkarni - M.S. Computer Science - 2023: LinkedIn
Zihao Damon Deng - M.S. Mechanical Engineering - 2023: LinkedIn
Preston Dankwah - B.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2023
Carol Esperanza Alata - B.S. Computational Neuroscience - 2023
Andrew Iwamoto - M.S. Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering - 2023
Yifan Xue - B.S. Mechanical Engineering - 2023
Nick Mengyu Sun - B.S. Electrical Engineering - 2023
Taylor White - M.S. Medical Device Diagnostics and Engineering - 2023
Jan Lao - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2023: LinkedIn
Alex Prieger - B.S. Computer Engineering and Computer Science - 2023: LinkedIn
Sinthia Sivapalan - M.S. Electrical Engineering - 2022: LinkedIn
Timothy Fanelle - M.S. Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering - 2022: LinkedIn
Jaehyung Choi - M.S. Computer Science - 2022: LinkedIn
Amber Helton - M.S. Computer Science - 2022: LinkedIn
Daniel Wang - B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Applied & Computational Mathematics - 2022: Website
Paritosh Singh - M.S. Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) - 2022: LinkedIn
Andrew Yock - M.S. Medical Device and Diagnostic Engineering - 2022: LinkedIn
Scott Susanto - B.S. Computer Engineering and Computer Science - 2022: LinkedIn
Justin Chen - M.S. Computer Science (Intelligent Robotics) - 2021
Neil Koby Reid - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2021: LinkedIn
Jiaoran Wang - M.S. Mechanical Engineering - 2021: LinkedIn
Genyu Zhang - M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering - 2021: LinkedIn
Xuchen Ning - M.S. Mechanical Engineering - 2020
Tailun Liu - M.S. Mechanical Engineering - 2020: LinkedIn
Sithara Kamalakkannan - M.S. Computer Science - 2019: LinkedIn
Ashwin Sivakumar - M.S. Electrical and Computer Engineering - 2019: LinkedIn
Huan Zhao - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2019: LinkedIn
Paris Hajili - B.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2019: LinkedIn
Yasmine Kahsai - B.A. Design - 2018: LinkedIn
Chintalapudi Sarath - M.S. Electrical Engineering - 2018: LinkedIn
Mayumi Ishikawa - B.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2018: LinkedIn
Gabe Glasser - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2018: LinkedIn
Théo Denisart - Visiting Masters Student from EPFL - 2018: LinkedIn | Website
Maral Kasiri - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2018: LinkedIn
Niharika Singh - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2017: LinkedIn
Young Jin Kim - B.S. Computer Science - 2017: Website
Vishweshwar Shastri - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2017: LinkedIn
Noel Trivedi - B.S. Computer Science - 2017: LinkedIn
Feihong Qian - B.S. Computer Science - 2017: LinkedIn
Babak Taherian - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2017: LinkedIn
Sébastien Arnold - B.S. Computer Science, B.A. Mathematics - 2017: Website
Priyanka Vachhani - M.S. Global Medicine - 2017: LinkedIn
Melisa Osborne - B.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2017: LinkedIn
Taegyum Kim - B.S. Computer Science - 2017: LinkedIn
Giridhar Akila Dhakshinamoorthy - M.S. Computer Science - 2017: LinkedIn
Keegan Bate - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2017: LinkedIn
Brandon Miura - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2017: LinkedIn
Victor Esparza - M.S. Electrical Engineering (Control Systems) - 2017: LinkedIn | Website
Sloan Swieso - B.S. Computer Science - 2016: LinkedIn
Xingchen Liao - B.S. Computer Science - 2016: LinkedIn
Jiayang Miao - B.S. Computer Science - 2016: LinkedIn
Catherine Parsekian - Claremont McKenna Neuroscience Bachelor’s - 2016: LinkedIn
Akira Nagamori - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2014: LinkedIn | Website
Juan Miguel Ramirez Rocamora - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2014
Kang Woo Lee - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2014
Brendan Holt - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2012
Wenhsin (Alice) Hu - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2012
Nora Nelson - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2010
Jonathan Weisz - M.S. Biomedical Engineering - 2009
Vic Anand - Ph.D. Accounting, M.S. Accounting (Cornell) - 2005: LinkedIn | Website
Laurel Kuxhaus - M.S. Mechanical Engineering (Cornell) - 2003: LinkedIn | Website
Jonathan Pearlman - M.S. Mechanical Engineering (Cornell) - 2002: Website
Nathan Wilson - M.Eng. Artificial Intelligence (Cornell) - 2000: LinkedIn | Website
Hanyu She - M.S. Mechanical Engineering
Shaohui Quian - M.S. Electrical Engineering
Elizabeth Chu - B.S. Computer Science
Cyrus Jia - B.S. Computer Science, B.S. Electrical Engineering: LinkedIn | Website
John Pugliesi - B.S. Computer Science / Business Administration: LinkedIn
Catherine Leigh Raquel - Stanford Human Biology Bachelor’s
Rose Chiang - Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering (Rotation): LinkedIn
Taylor Stroobosscher - B.S. Electrical Engineering