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

RESEARCH ASSOCIATES

Albert Dodson

Albert Dodson received his BS in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University in 2010. Before enrolling at Pitt, he worked in industry as a Mechanical Engineer for a company that designs flight simulators for commercial and military applications. He graduated with an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Pitt in 2017 and his MS thesis is titled “A Novel User-Controlled Assisted Standing Control System for a Hybrid Neuroprosthesis.”

Albert works as a Research Associate for Professor Sharma’s Neuromuscular Control and Robotics Laboratory. His research contributions include advancing the mechatronic and controls design for the Exoskeleton Project and acting as a co-contributor for the Unilateral Exoskeleton Project.

Email: aedodson@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: vidisha.ganesh@gmail.com

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