People
Nitin Sharma, PhD
Professional Biography: Nitin Sharma received the B.E. degree in Industrial Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, India, in 2004, and the M.S. degree and the Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, in 2008 and 2010 respectively. He was an Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions Post-Doctoral Fellow with the Department of Physiology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. From 2012-2017, he was an Assistant Professor with the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Pittsburgh, and promoted to an Associate Professor in 2018. In 2019, he joined the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University-Raleigh and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He has won O. Hugo Schuck Award for the Best Application Paper from the 2008 American Control Conference. His research in hybrid exoskeletons is funded by NSF awards and NIH. His awards include NSF CAREER Award in 2018, IEEE Control Systems Technology Award 2019, and NIBIB Trailblazer Award in 2021.
Research Interests: His research interests include the modeling, optimization, and control of functional electrical stimulation (FES), hybrid exoskeletons that combine FES and a powered exoskeleton. His research group has recently started looking into using ultrasound imaging-derived sensing signals to address human-robot interaction problems in rehabilitation.
Email: nsharm23@ncsu.edu
POSTDOCTORAL ASSOCIATES
Xiangming Xue, PhD
Xiangming Xue received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing in 2012, his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from California State University, Long Beach in 2015, and then received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2019. He worked in the industry as a Control Engineer for a company that designs control algorithms for electrified powertrains. He is currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Associate under the supervision of Dr. Sharma and Co-advised by Dr. Xiaoning Jiang. His research focuses on control theory in biomedical wearable devices.
Email: xxue5@ncsu.edu
PhD STUDENTS
Krysten Lambeth
Krysten Lambeth graduated from Salem College in 2019 with a B.S. in Mathematics and is now pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Her research is focused on synergy-inspired control of walking with a hybrid exoskeleton.
Email: kflambet@ncsu.edu
Mayank Singh
Mayank received his B.Tech. in Electrical & Electronics Engineering from Delhi Technological University (New Delhi, India) in 2018, and is now pursuing a PhD in Electrical Engineering at NC State University. He is interested in advancing rehabilitation assistive devices for mobility in impaired individuals. His research focuses on developing reinforcement learning and MPC based data-driven control methods for lower limb rehabilitation.
Email: msingh25@ncsu.edu
Vidisha Ganesh
Vidisha graduated from Rice University with a bachelor’s in Computer Science and is now pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. She is interested in exploring how functional electrical stimulation technology can be incorporated with limb exoskeletons to assist individuals with neuromuscular disorders
Email: vganesh3@ncsu.edu
Noor Hakam
Noor graduated from NC State University with a double major in Biomedical Engineering and Political Science in 2022. She is now pursuing a PhD in Biomedical Engineering. Her research focuses on creating real-time image processing techniques that can be used to determine movement intent and provide feedback in exoskeleton and FES control methods.
Email: nzhakam@ncsu.edu
MASTERS STUDENTS
DOCTORAL ALUMNI
Ashwin Iyer (2023)
Dissertation: Real time Integration of Ultrasound-Imaging Derived Muscle Contractility in Closed-Loop Control of Functional Electrical Stimulation and a Powered Exoskeleton
Current Affiliation: Delsys, MA
Ziyue Sun (2022)
Dissertation: Robust Model Predictive Control of Functional Electrical Stimulation for Human Limb Tracking
Current Affiliation: DiDi Labs, CA
Qiang Zhang (2021)
Dissertation: Ultrasound Imaging and Surface Electromyography-based Voluntary Effort Prediction and Control Strategies for Ankle Assistance
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Qiang-Zhang-37
Current Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, University of Alabama, AB
Zhiyu Sheng (2021)
Dissertation: Ultrasound Imaging for Assessment of Muscle Contractility and Estimation of FES-Induced Fatigue in a Hybrid Neuroprosthesis (published to Pitt ETD in 2022)
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Zhiyu-Sheng
Current Affiliation: Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
Vahidreza Molazadeh (2020)
Dissertation: Iterative Learning Control Methods for Hybrid Wearable Robots (published to Pitt ETD in 2022)
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vahidreza-molazadeh-6b33a1b6/
Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2141080435_Vahidreza_Molazadeh
Current Affiliation: Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD
Xuefeng Bao (2019)
Dissertation: Robust and Adaptive Optimal Control Methods for a Hybrid Neuroprosthesis.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bao-xuefeng-a7924a80
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/2113589807_Xuefeng_Bao
Current Affiliation: Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
Naji Alibeji, Ph.D. (2017)
Dissertation: “A Human Motor Control-Inspired Control System for a Walking Hybrid Neuroprosthesis”
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naji-alibeji-312248139
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Naji_Alibeji
Current Affiliation: Senior Development Engineer, Acutronic USA, Pittsburgh, PA
Nicholas Kirsch, Ph.D. (2016)
Dissertation: “Control Methods for Compensation and Inhibition of Muscle Fatigue in Neuroprosthetic Devices”
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-kirsch-b9b9b7a2
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicholas_Kirsch
Current Affiliation: Senior Robotics Engineer, IAM Robotics, Pittsburgh, PA
MASTERS ALUMNI
- Surendar Kotte” 21- Thesis: Investigating the Effect of Sensory Neurons in the Propogation of Tremor
- Abdullah Ahmad ’21 – Thesis: Variable Step Length Control for a Hybrid Neuroprosthesis Using Dynamic Movement Primitives and Model Predictive Control
- Zunding Xiao ’18 – Thesis: State Estimation of an Acoustic Bubble-Powered Microswimmer from Ultrasound Imaging Data
- Albert Dodson ’17 – Thesis: A Novel User-Controlled Assisted Standing Control System for a Hybrid Neuroprosthesis
- Ziyue Sun ’17- Thesis: Robust Model Predictive Control of An Input Delayed Functional Electrical Stimulation
- Tianyi Qiu ’16 – Thesis: Robust Compensation of Electromechanical Delay during Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation of Antagonistic Muscles
- Qiang Zhong ’16 – Thesis: Development and Experimental Evaluation of a State Dependent Coefficient Based State Estimator for Functional Electrical Stimulation-Elicited Tasks now Assistant Professor at Iowa State University
- Brian Doll ’15 – Thesis: Optimization of Neuromuscular Electrical Stimulation to Reduce Muscle Fatigue during Isometric Contractions
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
Sophia Francesca Lazo
Reagan Parks
Ryan Moloney
Akshar Patel
Ashlyn Gibbs
Eugene Shon
Collin Dulin