Dr. Hebert is the director of the BLINC Lab and has research appointments at the University of Alberta and a clinical appointment at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr. Hebert leads the interdisciplinary clinical team that performs upper limb Targeted Reinnervation (TR) surgery in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Her research team studies advanced motor control and sensory … Continue reading Jacqueline S. Hebert MD, FRCPC (Faculty)

Dr. Patrick M. Pilarski is a Canada Research Chair in Machine Intelligence for Rehabilitation at the University of Alberta, and an Associate Professor in the Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Department of Medicine. Dr. Pilarski is a Fellow of the Alberta Machine Intelligence Institute (Amii) and principal investigator with the Reinforcement Learning and Artificial … Continue reading Patrick M. Pilarski, Ph.D. (Faculty)

Rory is the lead research engineer in the BLINC Lab, and is appointed to the department of Medicine – Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Alberta. Rory directly drives and coordinates the engineering projects in the lab related to prosthetics and orthotics including design of training tools, sensory feedback systems, and research platforms. Rory plays … Continue reading Michael (Rory) Dawson, M.Sc., P.Eng. (Research Engineer)

  Dr. Albert Vette is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and a Research Scientist at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, Edmonton.  He also is a member of the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute (NMHI) and an affiliate within the Department of Biomedical Engineering, both at the University of Alberta.  Albert received his … Continue reading Albert H. Vette, Ph.D. (Faculty)

Dr. Carey is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Associate Dean (Programs and Planning) of the Faculty of engineering. His general research interests are in the areas of composite and biological materials mechanics, biomedical engineering design, biomechanics of orthodontic treatment and orthodontic imaging, tissue mechanics and sports and injury biomechanics.

  Dr. Chapman studies what appear to be simple motor behaviours like reaching to take a sip of tea from a mug on a messy desk.  These actions are simple in that we never even have to think of them, but they only appear that way, because the exact way the brain accomplishes the control of … Continue reading Craig Chapman, Ph.D. (Faculty)

Mayank Rehani is a research associate and study coordinator in the BLINC Lab. He graduated with an MSc in Rehabilitation Science at the University of Alberta in 2013, after completing a BSc with Double Major in Biological Sciences and Psychology (Science) in 2008. He also completed the Project Management Certificate program at the Northern Alberta … Continue reading Mayank Rehani (Research Associate)

Dr. Shehata is an adjunct professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering. He joined the BLINC Lab in 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow and in 2021 continued his work with the lab as a research associate. He received a B.Sc. degree in Engineering Materials Science and an M.Sc. degree in Mechatronics Engineering … Continue reading Ahmed W. Shehata, Ph.D. (Adjunct Faculty, Research Associate)

A graduate of the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Physical Education in 2002 and Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy in 2005. He is an Occupational Therapist who has been working with the adult amputee population in a tertiary rehabilitation setting since 2009. His current focus is working at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital with amputee, peripheral … Continue reading Glyn Murgatroyd, BPE, B.Sc.OT (Occupational Therapist)

Mike Stobbe is a research associate with BLINC and works through a collaboration with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital.  He has been a Certified Prosthetist for 14 years working with all levels of limb amputation but has developed specialty in upper limb prosthetic treatment.  He assists BLINC by interfacing the existing and novel technology used at … Continue reading Mike Stobbe, CP (Prosthetist)

David Home is a research associate with BLINC  and works through a collaboration with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. He has been a prosthetist for 30 years and has a particular interest in CAD CAM prosthetics.

Riley is a computer engineer with the BLINC Lab. He graduated with a BSc in Computer Engineering – Software Option at the University of Alberta in 2014. His educational background includes extensive exposure to biological sciences and mechanical engineering, and he is currently pursuing a combined MBA/MEng degree. Riley’s work experience spans a diverse subset … Continue reading Riley Dawson, B.Sc. (MBA/MEng Student)

Applying Reinforcement Learning to the control of prosthetic arms to make them easier for amputees to use. View Craig’s MSc thesis here. Education: BSc Engineering Physics (University of Alberta) – 2005 Computer Engineering Technologist (Northern Alberta Institute of Technology) – 2000 http://sherstan.com sherstan@ualberta.ca

Ewen has a diverse background of researching, teaching, coaching, and community involvement. He holds undergraduate degrees in Biology and Education and joined the Action in Complex Environments Lab and the Bionic Limbs for Improved Natural Control Lab as a Master’s student contributing to research focused on using technologies to assist in the performance assessment of upper … Continue reading Ewen Lavoie, B.Sc., M.Sc. (MD Student and Ph.D. Candidate)

Quinn has been working as a research associate with the BLINC lab since completing her MSc in Biomedical Engineering under the supervision of Dr. Jacqueline Hebert in the winter of 2019. Before beginning her MSc program, Quinn also worked for a year as a research assistant with Dr. Hebert and a team of interdisciplinary researchers … Continue reading Quinn Boser, B.Sc., M.Sc. (Research Engineering Associate)

Heather has been a presence in the BLINC Lab since May 2014. She worked as a volunteer researcher for three summers while she was studying for her B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering (completed in Spring 2017). In this role, she made the following research contributions: conducted e-NABLE prosthetic hand design testing and evaluations, helped to quantify … Continue reading Heather Williams, B.Sc., M.Sc. (Ph.D. Candidate)

Alex Kearney acquired her Bsc in Artificial Intelligence & Computer Science degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2016. She focuses on Artificial Intelligence and Reinforcement Learning. She is now a PhD candidate and is supervised by Rich Sutton and Patrick Pilarski at the University of Alberta in the Reinforcement Learning & Artificial Intelligence Lab and the BLINC lab Alex’s … Continue reading Alex Kearney (Ph.D. Candidate)

Reihaneh graduated with a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Biomedical Engineering, Bioelectric branch in 2017. In her M.Sc. project, she presented a neural model to identify the desired muscle activation patterns by Hopf oscillator during gait. Her research interests include human locomotion, gait and balance, and lower limb prosthesis control. She started her doctoral study under … Continue reading Reihaneh Ravari, B.Sc., M.Sc. (Ph.D. Student)

Emma is a 4th-year Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Alberta. She has an interest in Rehabilitation Engineering and Biomechanics. She began volunteering at BLINC lab in March 2022 and is working on optimizing a sensory-feedback device for transtibial and transradial amputees. When she is not busy doing schoolwork, you can find her reading … Continue reading Emma Durocher (B.Sc. Student)

Kodi graduated from the University of Guelph in December 2020 with a B.Sc. in Human Kinetics. During her undergraduate degree, she worked in clinical settings with patients who had various neurological conditions. As well, she undertook a fourth-year research project in which she used gait analysis to investigate the effectiveness of a high intensity exercise … Continue reading Kodi Cheng, B.Sc. (M.Sc. Student)

Mitchell graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in 2020. He was exposed to research when he conducted a compatibility study on syringes and took a liking to it during his undergraduate degree. After graduation, he decided to venture off independently to create upper limb myoelectric prostheses, where he further … Continue reading Mitchell Dumba, B.Sc. (M.Sc. Student)

Annette is pursuing her final year of undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering. Throughout her degree, she has completed four research positions providing her a diverse range of experiences that led her to explore further into biomedical engineering. In these positions, she explored wearable sensors for workplace risk assessment, vibration mitigation in surgical robots, bone anchored … Continue reading Annette Lau (B.Sc. Student)

Alexander (a.k.a Xander) is an undergraduate student currently pursuing his B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with a Biomedical Option. In his second year, Xander designed an adaptor capable of joining a myoelectric armband sensor to the VIVE tracker, which incorporates computer-aided design models of current robotic hands. This adapter led into his current co-op placement at … Continue reading Alexander Nichols (B.Sc. Student)

Laura is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Computing Science under the supervision of Dr. Patrick Pilarski and Dr. Matthew E. Taylor. She received a B.Sc. with Honors in Computing Science from the University of Alberta in 2019 and an M.Sc. in Computing Science from the University of Alberta in 2022. Her research interests include reinforcement … Continue reading Laura Petrich, B.Sc., M.Sc. (Ph.D. Student)

Liam Jack. Undergraduate Researcher (2020-2021) After his tenure with BLINC, accepted an engineering position at Tevosol Transplant Technologies Helen Zhao. Undergraduate Researcher (2020) After her tenure with BLINC, accepted a systems engineering position at Next Level Games Madihah Khan. Undergraduate Researcher (2021) After her tenure with BLINC, continued B.Sc. in Neuroscience at the University of … Continue reading Previous Lab Members