Team

Xiaogang Hu, PhD, Associate Professor
Xiaogang Hu received his BE (2006) in the Department of Precision Instruments and Mechanology at Tsinghua University in Beijing China. He then received a PhD (2011) degree in Kinesiology with a focus on neural control of muscle force, and a minor in Computational Science in the Department of Aerospace Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. Prior to joining UNC/NC State, he was a research scientist at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and research assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University.

Rinku Roy completed her B.Tech. in BME (2010) from West Bengal University of Technology (WBUT), India. She received her M.E in BME (2012) from Jadavpur University (M.E), India. She was awarded Gold-medal in her M.E for securing the highest rank in her department. She received her PhD (2020) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur as an INSPIRE fellow. During her PhD study, she was a visiting research scholar (Sept – Jan 2020) at Newcastle University, UK in a Royal Society funded collaborative project. She joined Dr. Hu’s lab at UNC/NC State in 2021 as a NIDILRR Postdoctoral Fellow co-mentored by Dr. Kamper. Her main research interests include bio-signal processing, neural-machine interface, and control of assistive devices for upper-limb rehabilitation.

Luis Vargas received his BS (2017) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is a BME PhD student at UNC/NC State since 2017, and is specializing in the research field of rehabilitation engineering. He is interested in Neuro/Biomechanics, prosthetic/rehabilitation device design, and psychology.

Noah Rubin received his B.A. (2017) in Biology with an Engineering Emphasis from the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara. He joined the BME PhD program at UNC/NC State in 2018, co-advised by Dr. Helen Huang at BME. His current research interests include sensorimotor integration, biomedical signaling, control systems, and device design. In the long-term, he hopes to improve accessibility to low-cost rehabilitative/assistive technologies.

Feng Xu received his B.E. (2019) degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, U.K., and a second B.E. (2019) in Telecommunications from Huazhong University of Science and Technology. He is working with Dr. Hu as a BME PhD student at UNC-Chapel Hill since 2019. He is interested in machine learning, robotics, and biomedical signal processing.

Paola Terolli received her BS (2020) degree in Mechanical Engineering from New York University with a minor in Biomechanics and Biosystems. She has been a BME PhD student at UNC/NC State since 2021. She is interested in robotics, muscle activation patterns, and in designing rehabilitation devices.
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCHER
Cameron Schmitt, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Jenevieve Surkin, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Nita Prabhu, Abrams Scholar, BME, UNC
Rohan Krishnan, Abrams Scholar, BME, UNC
Elena Fernandez, Abrams Scholar, BME, UNC
ALUMNI
PhD Students
Henry Shin, PhD, Application Engineer, Ripple Neuro
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yang Zheng, PhD, Associate Professor, Xi’an Jiaotong University
Chenyun Dai, PhD, Associate Professor, Fudan University
Undergraduate Researcher
Jason Xie, Abrams Scholar, BME, UNC
Sarah Kubik, Benjamin Franklin Scholar, BME, NCSU
Jeehyun Kim, Abrams Scholar, BME, UNC
Renee Zhang, High School Student, NCSSM
Madeline Smith, High School Student, NCSSM
Ryan Chen, Abrams Scholar, BME, UNC
Kristyna Herman, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Bilal Mahmood, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Ellie Wilson, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Leonel Jimenez, High School Student, NCSSM
Graham Whitehouse, Abrams Scholar, Undergraduate Student, BME, NCSU
Alexandra Yanoschak, Undergraduate Student, Research Engineer, Teledyne
Ciku Makumi, Abrams Scholar, Undergraduate Student, BME, NCSU
Marwan Hawari, Abrams Scholar, Research Assistant, NIH
Ausvin Khanna, Abrams Scholar, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Sydney Cheek, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Kayla Thompson, Undergraduate Student, BME, UNC
Lauren Stinson, Undergraduate Student, BME, NCSU
Guijin Li, Research Assistant, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab
Emily Fawcett, PhD Student, BME, NCSU
Zach Watkins, Abrams Scholar, MD/PhD Student, University of Cincinnati
Bradley Davis, Abrams Scholar, Undergraduate Student, BME, NCSU