Lab Personnel
Emily Graczyk
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
Biomedical Engineer, Louis Stokes Cleveland
VA Medical Center
2018 PhD in Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
2013 BS in Biomedical Engineering, University of South Carolina
Post Doctoral Researchers
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Post Doctoral Researcher
Rohit Bose
PhD University of Pittsburgh​, 2024
​​
Rohit is interested in exploring the nuances of different sensory restoration technologies to rehabilitate people with amputations, spinal cord injuries, and women who have undergone mastectomies.
Post Doctoral Researcher
Russell Hardesty
PhD West Virginia University​, 2020
​​
Russell’s research focuses on elucidating mechanisms of human motor control and motor learning to develop more intuitive assistive and rehabilitative technologies.
Post Doctoral Researcher
Leah Roldan
Cornell University, M.Eng 2013 & BS 2012
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Leah is part of the Bionic Breast Project, which explores the use of electrical stimulation of intercostal nerves to restore breast sensation following mastectomy. Her current focus is evaluating skin sensation pre- and post-mastectomy, characterizing sensation during electrical stimulation, and evaluating stimulation’s impact on post-mastectomy pain.
Graduate Students
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
John Wright
2016 BS Psychology and Biomedical Engineering, University of Utah
​
John investigates how multi-contact temporal patterning can be used to expand the qualities and usability of peripheral nerve stimulation specifically examining how multi-location stimulation can evoke sensations like movement across the skin, or affective touch-like experiences.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Preethisiri Bhat
2020 BS Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley
​
Preethi studies the perceptual and cortical response of peripheral nerve stimulation-elicited sensation in individuals with spinal cord injury.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Jonah Mudge
2021 BS Biomedical Engineering and Neurobiology, Minor in Computer Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison
​
Jonah's research focuses on characterizing proprioceptive percepts in upper-limb amputees and aims to benefit amputees by improving proprioceptive feedback in neuroprostheses. Jonah is also studying proprioceptive movement illusions in non-amputee populations through TENS and tendon/muscle vibration.
PhD Candidate, Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing
Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center
Meilissa Schmitt
2005 BS Nursing, Kent State University
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Melissa currently works with a multi-disciplinary team that applies electrical stimulation to the residual nerves in amputees to provide sensation from prosthetic hands or feet. Her research interest includes seeking to understand the psychosocial experiences of upper limb amputees.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Bronwyn Spilker
2022 BSE Biomedical Engineering and Psychology, Minor in Electrical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University
​
Bronwyn studies the coapplication of multiple stimulation modalities, including ICMS and PNS, to understand how these modes integrate and how they affect the elicited sensation with the ultimate goal of improving the sensation to allow participants to more naturally embrace and use ICMS or PNS stimulation in place of lost sensation.
PhD Candidate, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
Roberto Peralta
2022 BS Mechanical Engineering, Minors in Mathematics and French, University of Arizona
​
Roberto is interested in developing biomimetic peripheral nerve stimulation paradigms to improve sensory and functional restoration in persons with limb loss and spinal cord injury. Roberto uses in-silico models to inform and iterate on these paradigms.
Staff
Study Coordinator
Jessica Jarvela (née Walrath
MS Pathology, Case Western Reserve University
BS Biology, University of Dayton
​
Jessica's primary focus is providing administrative support to both the clinical and technical project teams for the laboratory's multiple projects. This includes coordinating test subject scheduling, documentation and maintenance of research data, support completion of regulatory documents for the FDA, IRB, and/or project sponsor as required, as well as assist the quality systems engineer and systems engineer in generation of all quality system documentation.
Clinical Research Analyst
Hannah Ludlow
​BA History & BS Anthropology Montana State University. MA Anthropology Case Western Reserve
University.
Hannah is a user experience researcher who supports qualitative investigations on multiple projects in the laboratory. She also assists with participant recruitment and coordination efforts.
Research Occupational Therapist, Louis Stokes VA
Chris Cowen
1995 BS Occupational Therapy, Cleveland State University
​
Chris works with our research participants to train them in the use of state of the art, high DoF prostheses. She aids in subject recruitment - speaking with potential subjects, answering questions about studies and conducting functional measures during initial screenings - and is the point of contact for all upper extremity amputee participants serving as a patient advocate.
Staff Engineer
Bridget Gagnier
2022 BS Biomedical Engineering, Hope College
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Bridget assists with the technical needs of the team. This includes the collection and processing of data, integrating new devices/systems into the lab setup, and other engineering tasks
Undergraduate Students
Working Under John Wright
- No current advisees
Working Under Bronwyn Spilker
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No current advisees
Working Under Preethisiri Bhat
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Jonathan Callejas
- Selen Vardar​
- Nicole Zhen
- Kasey Thomas
- Amy Gan
Working Under Jonah Mudge
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Sreyash Das Sarma
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Suraj Das
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Dylan Bordman
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Rachel Chang
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Esther Gao
Working Under Roberto Peralta
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Sam Haugen
Alumni
The following people have been involved in the lab as students, researchers, coordinators or other and we thank them for their contributions!
2021 MS Electrical Engineering, CWRU
Tanya Tebcherani
Tanya developed a novel controller for evoking sensation with PNS. Her legacy continues on in the work of the lab and as of 2021, she is a visiting assistant professor at Hope College!
Study Coordinator
Alesia Lambert
Alesia acted as a study coordinator - assisting with IRB and FDA submissions and approvals and coordinating travel for participants. Alesia left the team in 2023 to work at ____
Research Nurse and Coordinator
Alexandra Hutchison
more info to come
Undergraduate Researcher
Eric Chen
A part of the Graczyk Lab 2019-2023, Eric graduated in 2023 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering. He is currently working at UH while applying to medical school programs.
Undergraduate Researcher
Shifra Narasimhan
A part of the Graczyk lab 2019-2023, Shifra graduated from CWRU in 2023 with a BS in Biomedical Engineering and a minor in Electrical Engineering.
Study Coordinator
Alex Zanowick-Marr
​Alex served as a Clinical Research Analyst for out team. She has since gone on to pursue a career in medicine, starting medical school in 2024! Best of luck, Alex!
Biomedical Engineer
Aaron Ketting-Oliver
Aaron supported our team in both our upper extremity amputee and ReHAB studies. An integral member of the team, he has gone on to pursue a career in engineering. Thank you Aaron and best of luck!