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Meet the Team

No. Personnel Primary affiliation Contribution to the NSAP program
1. Dr. Jose Contreras-Vidal UH Program co-director, Seminar, Workshop, Immersive laboratory training
2. Dr. Pranav J. Parikh UH Program co-director, Seminar, Workshop
3. Jenny Fula UH Program manager
4. Dr. Diana De La Rosa-Pohl UH Program evaluator
5. Dr. Gerard Francisco UT Health, TIRR Advisory Board
6. Dr. Shuo-Hsiu Chang UT Health, TIRR Seminar, Workshop, Immersive laboratory training, Advisory Board
7. Dr. Christina Bickley TWU Seminar, Workshop, Immersive laboratory training, Advisory Board
8. Dr. Shih-Chiao Tseng UTMB Seminar, Workshop, Advisory Board
9. Dr. Stacey Gorniak UH Seminar, Immersive laboratory training
10. Dr. Luca Pollonini UH Seminar, Workshop, Immersive laboratory training
11. Dr. Charles Layne UH Seminar, Immersive laboratory training
12. Dr. Jinsook Roh UH Seminar, Immersive laboratory training
13. Dr. Michael Williams UH Seminar
14. Dr. Margaret Blake UH Seminar
15. Dr. Heather Dial UH Seminar, Immersive laboratory training
16. Dr. Seoung Hoon Park UH Seminar, Immersive laboratory training
17. Dr. Elham Morshedzadeh UH Seminar, Immersive laboratory training
18. Dr. Laura Gutierrez and Penny Maher UH Seminar (RCR)

Program Directors

Jose L. Contreras-Vidal
Jose L. Contreras-Vidal, PhD
Email: jlcontreras-vidal [at] uh.edu (jlcontreras-vidal[at]uh[dot]edu)

Jose ‘Pepe’ Contreras-Vidal, PhD (Fellow IEEE, Fellow AIMBE) is Cullen Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Director of the NSF Research Center for Building Reliable Advances and Innovations in Neurotechnology (IUCRC BRAIN) at the University of Houston. He has pioneered noninvasive brain-machine interfaces and wearable exoskeletons to restore motor function in individuals with disabilities. His work at the nexus of art and science is opening new windows to study the neural basis of human creativity while investigating the power of the arts as a modulator of brain activity. His career development in biomedical engineering was highlighted by the journal Science. Dr. Contreras-Vidal is a member of the National Advisory Board for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NABMRR) at the National Institute of Health. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, DARPA, Industry and Philanthropy. His research has been highlighted in The Economist, Nature, Science, Der Spiegel, and Wall Street Journal, among others.

Pranav J. Parikh
Pranav J. Parikh, MBBS, PhD
Email: pjparikh2 [at] uh.edu (pjparikh2[at]uh[dot]edu)

Dr. Parikh is an associate professor with tenure and the Director of the Center for Neuromotor and Biomechanics Research in the department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston. His research has been supported by NIH, NSF, Mission Connect Foundation. Dr. Parikh’s research focuses on furthering our knowledge about the role of human brain in movement control and in learning new movement skills with a long-term goal of utilizing this new knowledge to design novel interventions to improve clinical outcomes. His research team (Parikh Lab) uses concepts from neurophysiology and biomechanics and apply a wide range of techniques, including non-invasive transcranial direct current and magnetic brain stimulation (tDCS and TMS), surface electromyography, and electroencephalography. Dr. Parikh and his team publish their scientific discoveries in some of the prestigious journals in the field of neurophysiology, including Cerebral Cortex, Journal of Neurophysiology, Journal of Applied Physiology, and Neuroscience. Dr. Parikh has experience mentoring 25+ high school, undergraduate, and graduate students in his laboratory. Dr. Parikh’s graduate and undergraduate research assistants have received 20+ awards for research. This mentoring experience recently won him the 2021 University of Houston Faculty Excellence Award in Undergraduate Research Mentoring, a university level award that recognizes the mentorship efforts of University of Houston faculty at all stages of their careers. Dr. Parikh regularly serves as an ad-hoc reviewer for several NIH study sections. He is on the editorial board of several journals including Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Frontiers in Medical Engineering – Clinical Engineering section, and Frontiers in Neurorobotics.

Program Evaluator

Diana De La Rosa-Pohl
Diana De La Rosa-Pohl, PhD

Instructional Associate Professor, Director of Endeavour S-STEM Program, University of Houston

Program Manager

Jenny Fula
Jenny Fula Torrijos

Jenny is an industrial engineer with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of international and domestic commercial trade, project management, procurement, business, networking, marketing, communications, recruiting, research, medical data analysis, journalism, web design, and web management.

Jenny worked at the University of Houston as Program Manager for 2 years with The BRAIN Center (Building Reliable Advances in Neurotechnologies) an NSF (National Science Foundation) program that accelerates the impact of basic research through close relationships between industry innovators, world-class academic teams, and government leaders. She returned this year to the center to work in the workforce development as program coordinator for Research Undergraduate Students (REU) program in Neurotechnologies to Help the Body Move, Heal and Feel Again and as Program manager for the Neuromotor Skill Advancement for Post-baccalaureates (NSAP), programs that will run over the summer.

She also works with the Consular Corps of Houston as Director of Communications, where she could help develop effective communications for the Consular officials, and its members. Jenny presents a segment in a podcast for the Hispanic community called Consular Connections, where she educates the community about all the services and representations of the consulates in Houston; she continuously interviews diplomats and important personalities that are part of different associations that help the community. She is a board member of the Casa Cultural de las Americas.

Furthermore, Jenny has been working with organizations and individuals to achieve their goals of successfully entering U.S. markets. Jenny primarily deals with upper-level leaders of many different corporations as well as governmental representatives from Texas and abroad. Jenny has been involved with the Houston Gateway of The Americas since 2015, where the goal is to work and maintain various projects that generate business opportunities in varying fields. These programs embody a new model for Texas that often promotes investment, seminars, and trade missions among local and international communities. Parallel to Houston Gateway of the Americas she has been working with programs for the Panama Business Council such us Panama Beautiful and the Texas Triangle Panama Trade Mission to Texas, and to Panama.

Jenny was involved with The Colombia Texas Chamber of Commerce from its beginning in 2012 as Communications and Marketing Director and Membership Manager. From 2016–2018 she worked in different projects in EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) and Logistics, parallel to Gateway of the Americas.

Jenny believes in promoting and helping the communities. She is always looking for projects and foundations that can generate better results in education, art, business, health among others. She is planning to help with health brigades and community missions in Latin America at the end of 2023.

When the Scouts BSA (Boys Scouts of America) introduced the participation of young female individuals in 2019, Jenny became the first Scout Master for Troop 1211 at St. Mark’s Episcopal in Houston. And after 4 years as Scout master, she is still involved with the troop as Assistant Scout Master for the troop 1211 and 211, and now she is part of the district dinner committee for the twin bayou district, Sam Houston Area council BSA.

Jenny was born in Colombia; she speaks both Spanish and English. She is interested in jewelry design, mixed media creations, artistic sculptural designs, and outdoor sports.

Research Interest: Project Management, Educational Program Opportunities, Community Engagement, Investment, Diversity Engagement.

Faculty

Stacey L. Gorniak
Stacey L. Gorniak, PhD, FAHA

Website

Shih-Chiao Tseng
Shih-Chiao Tseng, PT, PhD

Website

Jinsook Roh
Jinsook Roh, PhD

Website

Charles S. Layne
Charles S. Layne, PhD

Website

Luca Pollonini
Luca Pollonini, PhD

Website

Christina Bickley
Christina Bickley, PT, PhD, BOCO, C/NDT

Website

Shuo-Hsiu Chang
Shuo-Hsiu Chang, PT, MS, PhD

Website

Gerard E. Francisco
Gerard E. Francisco, MD

Website

Michael Williams
Michael Williams, PhD

Website

Margaret Blake
Margaret Blake, PhD, CCC-SLP

Website

Elham Morshedzadeh
Elham Morshedzadeh, PhD

Website

Heather Dial
Heather Dial, PhD

Website

Seoung Hoon Park
Seoung Hoon Park, PhD

Website

Dr. Laura Gutierrez and Penny Maher

RCR training

Medical Rehabilitation Advisory Board

Gerard Francisco
Gerard Francisco, MD

Website

Shuo-Hsiu Chang
Shuo-Hsiu Chang, PT, MS, PhD

Website

Christina Bickley
Christina Bickley, PT, PhD, BOCO, C/NDT

Website

Shih-Chiao Tseng
Shih-Chiao Tseng, PT, PhD

Website