Blair Hu, Ph.D. Email & Phone Number

Atlanta, Ga, Us

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Il, Us

Chicago, Illinois, Us

Center for Bionic Medicine

Neural Engineering for Prosthetics and Orthotics Lab in the Center for Bionic Medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab (formerly Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago) advised by Levi Hargrove, Ph.D. Studying signal processing, sensor fusion, and machine learning techniques for improving predictive accuracy and generalizability of real-time control systems for rehabilitation robotics including prostheses, orthoses, and exoskeletons.

Provided organizational leadership of scholarly activities for 10+ graduate students/post-docs in the Center for Bionic Medicine by coordinating weekly meetings to discuss relevant papers in the field and give constructive criticism on research methodology, manuscripts, and presentationsLed six informal hour-long lessons on machine learning, optimization, version control, control systems for assistive devices, general research methods, and career planning and professional development

Oversaw BME 307 (Quantitative Experimentation and Design) lab course for 45 undergraduate students, provided strategies to understand difficult course concepts, and used course assessments and small group meetings to provide feedback on improving data analysis and written communication (median score of 5 out of 6 on categories of preparation, helpfulness, and communication on teaching assistant course evaluation)

• Planned, promoted, and pioneered the opening of the IEC community in March 2014• Raised $13,000 and sent out detailed monthly newsletters to sponsors• Networked the IEC with over 200 new members and established local partnerships • Started and led more than 10 English conversation groups and developed personalized curricula• Designed and implemented an online database and attendance system using Zoho Creator• Achieved Indonesian language proficiency as a student at Puri Bahasa School (150 total hours)

Student teaching assistant for three undergraduate biomedical engineering courses: BME 4550 Electronics Lab, BME 4641 Bioelectricity, BME 2220 Biomechanics. Held weekly office hours, graded homework and lab reports, and planned special review sessions before exams.

Laboratory for Converging Technologies (Dr. Edward Botchwey)• Engaged in in vivo research on the pharmacological control of Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors for specific mobilization and recruitment of marrow-derived stem cells for microvascular remodeling in mice and consistently found significant enhancement of blood vessel growth using the agents AMD3100 and FTY720 • Conducted independent research on the chemotactic migration characteristics of MC3T3 pre-osteoblast stem cells using several pharmacological agents in vitro and improved an existing protocol for transwell migration assays for higher consistency and reproducibility• Designed and completed experiments using scanning electron microscopy and immunoassays to investigate the role of FTY720 in modulating WEHI monocyte morphology and cytokine response to PLGA degradation products in vitro, which supported previous in vivo findings, demonstrating the importance of synergy between cell and substrate for desirable wound healing outcomes

Center for Cell Signaling (Dr. Ian Macara)• Optimized a spinning disk confocal microscope by programming rapid, automated z-stack imaging using the Micro-Manager software interface so that researchers could run batches of samples autonomously

Pittsburgh, Pa, Us

Chase Lab (Dr. Steve Chase)• Applied multiple linear regression fitting and other computational and statistical analyses in MATLAB to probe the effects of motivation on movement times and primary motor cortical activity during brain-controlled cursor tasks in monkeys • Discovered that motor task performance and the neural tuning parameters underlying motor commands tend to correlate with motivation, peaking mid-day, and concluded that tighter experimental control over motivation in future experiments is needed to elucidate how motivational modulation is neurally encoded

Bethesda, Md, Us

Voice, Speech, and Language Branch (Dr. Allen Braun)• Wrote software in VBA implementing several criteria such as number of threshold crossings in a time interval or inversely correlated signals over a given duration to identify from within continuous data periods of sleep which were relevant to answering sleep research questions • Utilized AFNI software to correlate electroencephalographic (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data during a uniform stage 2 sleep-scored period, serving as a proof-of-method for the benefits of simultaneous EEG/fMRI recordings and suggesting that the default mode network may undergo substantial changes in preparation for deep sleep

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Biomedical Engineering

Master Of Science (M.S.), Biomedical Engineering

Bachelor Of Science (B.S.) With Highest Distinction, Biomedical Engineering