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Gregory J. Gerling, Ph.D. Associate Professor Systems and Information Engineering gregory-gerling virginia edu
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| Welcome! Our two research areas are related to the fields of haptics, human-machine interaction, and computational neuroscience: |
We
are seeking applications to fill 1-2 positions for
Ph.D. graduate study for on-going work funded by DARPA and NIH.
Please contact me for more information!.
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Computational models of tactile mechanotransduction We
are using computational models and artificial sensor correlates to
understand
the neural basis of touch and capture the neural behavior of the
skin-receptor
interaction. We
collaborate
with
neurophysiologists and surgeons to acquire electrophysiological and
skin
mechanics measurements. Specific
modeling
and analysis methodologies include solid mechanics (finite element
models),
statistics (response surface methodology for model fitting, ANCOVA,
ANOVA,
design of experiments, and logistic regression) and differential
equations
(models of neurons and receptor transduction), and psychophysical
experimental
techniques (signal detection theory, methods and laws of Fechner/Weber
and
Stevens). Our group
has
built some of
the first models to combine the skin mechanics and neural dynamics for
the
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Medical
simulator design and testing The
work to
understand the science of tactile
perception is applied in the design of simulators.
We
are currently working with a group of
clinicians and medical and nursing educators to create human-machine
interfaces
to train health care practitioners. Specifically,
we are designing, building, and evaluating
physical-computerized and virtual reality simulators.
These
simulators seek to train clinical palpation
skills in breast and prostate screening
exams and to train cognitive skills in other exams, such as chest tube
insertion. The goal is to ensure
that clinicians’ skills are systematically trained,
time-effective and highly
accurate. The
general
methodologies used
are task and work domain analysis, design of human-subjects
experiments, systems
modeling and statistical analysis, materials characterization, and
simulator prototype
construction with customized electronics, computer programming,
silicone-elastomers, and metals.
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