New Jersey Institute of Technology

Engineering Hope
New Technology for Rehabilitation
New Jersey Institute of Technology, The Alumni Magazine, Spring 2006

A team of biomedical engineers at NJIT is seeking to realize Maureen's hopes. Biomedical engineering faculty Richard Foulds, Sergei Adamovich and Bruno Mantilla co-direct the university's new Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center, which is developing technologies to help children with orthopedic disabilities that result from cerebral palsy, brain injuries and other conditions. The center is funded by a $4.75 million grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Important material support has also been provided under the NJIT Strategic Plan and from other sources, such as the recent $100,000 gift to the biomedical engineering department made by Vincent L. DeCaprio and his wife, Mary Lou, with the provision that it be used to help children. DeCaprio, a member of the NJIT Board of Trustees, is also a 1972 graduate of the university.

"In a nation of technological riches, there is no better way for engineers to use their talents than to find new technologies to help people with disabilities, especially children," says Foulds. The NJIT team will first develop therapeutic technologies in the university's biomedical engineering laboratories and then test promising prototypes at Children's Specialized Hospital, the largest pediatric rehabilitation hospital in the country.

During the next five years, some 200 children are expected to take part in the NJIT center's six research projects. The projects are led by Foulds, an associate professor, Mantilla, a special lecturer who is also a neurosurgeon, and Adamovich, an assistant professor. All are in NJIT's growing Department of Biomedical Engineering. Other faculty in the department and dozens of NJIT undergraduates and graduate students will contribute to these projects. [Read More]

Ammar Abdo, email: ara23@njit.edu

Ammar received his B.S. Degree in Biomedical Engineering (2004) from the Hashemite University, Zarqa, Jordan. He completed his Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2007. Ammar is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology. His research interests include developing micro-stimulators for neural stimulation applications.

One of the limitations of neural stimulation is the mechanical stress and resulting trauma caused by the movement of the interconnects to the stimulating electrode. Remotely activated floating micro-stimulators are one possible method of eliminating the interconnects. Ammar is working towards the development of a floating micro-stimulator that can be activated by a laser beam at near infrared (NIR) wavelengths.

Soha Saleh, email: shs25@njit.edu

Soha Saleh received her BS degree in Computer and Communication Engineering from the American University of Science and Technology (Beirut, Lebanon) in 2006. On December 2007, she graduated with Master degree in Biomedical Engineering from NJIT, Newark NJ. Soha has conducted her M.S. thesis research project in the Functional Measures Laboratory; her focus was on the analysis of finger flexion data where her goal was to extract useful determinants of hand posture which might both predict activity and disease state. Since she has the ambition and hope to develop better rehabilitative therapy approaches for people with movement disorders, she joined the RERC at NJIT to do her PhD studies in spring 2008. Her advisors are Dr. Richard Foulds and Dr. Sergei Adamovich, and her studies are supported by Malcolm Morse fellowship. Today, she is in a team working on a robot-based virtual-environment (VR) therapy for kids with Cerebral Palsy. She is also planning to use functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the effect of robot-based VR therapy on neuroplasity and to understand how one therapy approach might be more efficient than another.

Ghaith J. Androwis, email: ga6@njit.edu

Ghaith has finished his high school in the Roman Catholic High school in Alhuson-Jordan, then in June, 2006 he attended New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark, NJ and received his B.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering (Jan, 2009). As an undergraduate he was an Albert Dorman Honors College student and concentrated in Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering. He then completed his M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from NJIT (May, 2009) and his Master's project involved designing a Bio-Mechanical instrumented leg that can be used as a training devise for physical therapists of patients who have walking disorders. Currently Ghaith is attending the Biomedical Engineering department at NJIT (Sep, 09) and working to receive his Ph.D. degree, where his research interest is mainly focused on Biomechanical and Rehabilitation applications. Additionally he teaches the Biomaterial/Biomechanics related Computer Aided Design (CAD) course for the NJIT, BME department.

Alaa Al- Rashdan, email: aaa53@njit.edu

Alaa has finished her high school in the Irbid Girles High school in Irbid-Jordan, then she attended Jordan University for Science and (JUST), Irbid , Jordan,and received here B.A. degree in Biomedical Engineering with excellent grade (June, 2006). As an undergraduate her graduate project was "Real time EEG and Photoplethesmography with remote connectivity". Alaa had been working for Jordan University's Hospital, Amman, Jordan for about two and half a year as a biomedical engineer. Alaa has been attending the Biomedical Engineering department at NJIT since (Sep, 09) and working to receive her Ma/Ph.D. degree, where her research interest is mainly focused on Rehabilitation Engineering applications.