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 … Continue reading Mayank Rehani (Research Associate)

Dr. Shehata joined the BLINC Lab in 2018 as a postdoctoral fellow. He received a B.Sc. degree in Engineering Materials Science and an M.Sc. degree in Mechatronics Engineering from the German University in Cairo (GUC), Egypt, in 2012 and 2013, respectively. In 2015, he pursued his doctoral studies at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University … Continue reading Ahmed W. Shehata, Ph.D. (Post-Doctoral Fellow)

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)

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. (PhD 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. Student)

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 (PhD 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 … Continue reading Reihaneh Ravari, B.Sc., M.Sc. (P.hD Student)

Eric Wells is pursuing a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering under Dr. Jacqueline Hebert and Dr. Jason Carey.  He completed his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta in 2018, and joined the lab shortly afterwards.  Although his education lies in mechanical engineering, he has a passion for robotics and mechatronics.  The … Continue reading Eric Wells, B.Sc. (M.Sc. Student)

  Ben Hallworth is an undergraduate student currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical (Biomedical) Engineering at the University of Alberta. Ben has been involved with the BLINC Lab as a volunteer researcher in 2017 working on optimizing 3D printing parameters for airtight prosthetic sockets. Now he is a co-op student working on designing and … Continue reading Ben Hallworth (B.Sc. Student)

Cierra graduated from the B.Sc. Honours in Neuroscience program in spring 2020, and is currently pursuing a M.Sc. in Neuroscience under the supervision of Dr. Jacqueline Hebert. She began volunteering in the BLINC lab in 2018 and assisted with experiments involving adaptable sockets, vibration-induced kinesthetic illusion, and motion capture of functional tasks. She is now working on investigating … Continue reading Cierra Stiegelmar, B.Sc. (M.Sc. Student)

Taylor is an undergraduate student currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alberta. Taylor became involved with the BLINC Lab in 2020 as a co-op student working on developing a virtual reality environment for myoelectric prosthesis training (The VIPER project). Outside of work, Taylor enjoys working on personal … Continue reading Taylor Bulbuc (B.Sc. Student)

  Eric Beaudry is an undergraduate mechanical-biomedical engineering student at the University of Alberta. Eric joined the BLINC Lab in 2020 as a co-op student developing an immersive virtual reality environment to train prosthesis users. The environment will allow patients to conveniently train with a virtual Bento Arm, circumnavigating the typical expenses and time constraints … Continue reading Eric Beaudry (B.Sc. Student)

Liam is currently working on completing a BSc in Electrical Nanoengineering, to graduate in the spring of 2021. He joined the BLINC lab in February of 2020 and is currently working on developing wireless embedded systems to upgrade older electronics previously found on upper limb prosthetics. His skills and knowledge will be applied to PCB … Continue reading Liam Jack (B.Sc. Student)

Helen graduated in April 2020 with a degree specializing in computing science. She has been a member of the BLINC lab since October 2019 and is working as a full-time research assistant over the summer. She is currently developing new features for the brachI/Oplexus software as well as the virtual reality Bento Arm. Outside of … Continue reading Helen Zhao, B.Sc. (Research Assistant)

  Dylan Brenneis, M.Sc. Graduate (2019) Currently working as a Research Engineer at DeepMind, Canada. James Austin, M.Sc. Graduate (2018) Currently working as the lead Mechanical Engineer at PSYONIC, USA developing affordable advanced prostheses. McNiel Keri, M.Sc. Graduate (2018) Currently a medical student at the University of Calgary. Mellissa Gomez, B.Sc. Undergraduate Researcher (2018) Currently … Continue reading Previous Lab Members