Michael Powell Email & Phone Number

Santa Cruz, California, United States

Co-Founder and Biomechanics Lead of Immergo Labs at Immergo LLC. Our mission is to redefine physical rehabilitation telehealth for therapists and patients through off-the-shelf virtual reality headsets. Immergo was inspired by a multi-year research effort at University of California Santa Cruz in co-designing immersive VR games and tools for physical/occupational therapy. Now we are developing an accessible platform with AI-enabled biomechanic tools for virtualized physical rehabilitation clinics and exercise activities.

Silicon Valley, California, United States

Worked on a consulting project to help phone app company label phone motion capture data for vehicle activity recognition so they could expand their feature set for users.- Utilized CNN and LSTM models to achieve 65% accuracy.- Improved on this with XGBoost One vs All approach increasing accuracy to 83% accuracy.- Manually labeling data was extremely time-consuming, 8 hours to label 30 minutes of data. This can now be done in 10-15 minutes saving time and resources for the company.

OpenButterfly - Conducted research focused on the development of a virtual reality (VR) physical therapy game. • Machine learning model streamlines biomechanical data processing and eliminates need for expensive data capture systems, enabling a more affordable physical therapy solution for remote therapy. • Developed a Tensorflow LSTM model for runtime estimation of physical therapy metrics. • Used Python, Pandas, and SciPy for data processing of measured biological signals during study. • Programmed in Jupyter Notebook to demonstrate progress to colleagues. • Trained model on remote servers and clusters using Slurm and Torque job schedulers. • Conducted user testing of longitudinal 8 week trial. • Biomechanical simulation of gameplay to estimate joint angles, joint torques, and muscle force production.Cave vs HTC Vive – Compared two different immersive VR systems for mentally impaired and healthy users. • Results were published to help researchers understand which VR assistive technology is most suitable to users of varying cognitive ability. • Python scripting for data processing, cleaning, and syncing of biological measurements, including heartrate, perspiration, and brain activity to study user response to different VR gameplay. • MATLAB was used for statistical analysis and creating figures for the journal paper.

Responsibilities for the Introduction to Python course:- Wrote bash scripts to expedite grading of python programming assignments for 200+ students. - Cover course material in lab sections.- Debug students' code and help with their programming.Responsibilities for the Computer Systems and Assembly Language course:-Wrote Python scripts to expedite grading of 300+ students.-Facilitated four 120-minute lab sessions per week.-Assisted students in targeted subject areas.-Contributed to a friendly and productive learning environment.-Collaborated with fellow Teach Assistants to prepare lab instruction.-Graded exams.Topics consisted of digital logic, number systems, data structures, compiling/assembly process, the basics of system software, and computer architecture.

- Participated in the NSF I-Corps, a program centered around learning from and understanding the needs of potential users/customers in order to better translate academic research into a system for public use.- Interviewed 130+ people in the physical therapy industry during the seven-week program to understand the needs of telehealth and the feasibility of academic research translation for immersive virtual reality physical therapy.- Trained in the startup business model lean launchpad method by Steve Blank.

Scotts Valley, Ca

- Performed quality testing of high-precision mechanical designs to ensure specifications/tolerances were met.- Analyzed mechanical quality of components used in MRI machines, surgical robotics, aerospace systems, etc.- Quality assurance of AutoCAD designs to ensure product functionality.

Missoula, Montana Area

-Designed a high-speed treadmill to measure ground reaction forces for physiology research-Controlled high voltage DC motor to maintain high-load performance using Excel VBA-Performed FEA using AutoCAD for mechanical performance analysis-Conducted human testing research to ensure mechanical design specifications were met-Setup data acquisition system using force transducers-Journal article published in Medical Engineering and Physics

Responsibilities included (for Human Anatomy Physiology course at UMT):-Lectured on topics to be covered for the week.-Instructed four 90-minute lab sessions per week.-Structured sections to facilitate student collaboration.-Assisting students in targeted subject areas.-Contributing to a friendly and productive learning environment.-Collaborating with Instructors to prepare lab material.-Grading exams.Topics consisted of micro and macro tissues, bones, and nervous systems.

Birmingham, Alabama Area

-Trained clients with a variety of goals including weight loss, continued rehabilitation, strength training, competition, and sport specific movements.

Birmingham, Alabama Area

-Trained clients with a variety of goals including weight loss, continued rehabilitation, strength training, competition, and sport specific movements. -Instructed youth class for high school athletes.

Cheyenne, Wyoming Area

Prepared, tested, and analyzed various quarry and oil mixes to aid in road construction planning.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Phd), Computer Engineering, 3.65

Master Of Science (Ms), Exercsie Science - Biomechanics Focus, 3.83

Bachelor'S Degrees, Physics And Kinesiology, 3.55