On any other given day, you would likely find electrical and computer engineering (ECE) professor Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal inside of his UH Laboratory for Noninvasive Brain-Machine Interface Systems. Typically, Contreras-Vidal would be surrounded by eager graduate and undergraduate student researchers as he works to develop cutting-edge brain-machine interface (BMI) systems that allow patients with paralysis or other mobility issues to control robotic limbs using only the power of their thoughts.
But for two days in April, Pepe and a group of students working in his laboratory were supporting patients with mobility issues in a different way altogether: by strapping on helmets, putting on cycling gear and hitting the pavement on their bicycles.
Pepe and his students -- including Luu Phat, Yongtian He, Kedar Grama, Sho Nakagome, Jeff Gorges, Madeline Gorges and Sam Brown -- were among the more than 10,000 cyclists pedaling the 180 miles from Houston to Austin as part of the BP MS 150. The two-day fundraising bike ride, which is the largest of its kind in North America, is organized by the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society and is sponsored by BP.