A new article User Experiences and Adoption Factors for a Back-Support Exosuit in Automotive Logistics: Results from Field Testing up to 18 Months was published in IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors (August 2025).
Hanjun Park, a Ph.D. candidate, successfully defended his dissertation "Characterizing human motor adaptation and learning to using different occupational exoskeletons." He will begin his academic career as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial, Manufacturing & Systems Engineering at Texas Tech University.
Congratulations, Hanjun!
(August 2025)
I have been appointed to the John Grado Professorship, which was approved by the VT Board of Visitors in March 2025.
(announced in Virginia Tech News on June 10, 2025)
Two new articles were recently published (June 2025):
Passive back support exoskeletons do not effectively reduce physical demands during simulated floor tiling in Applied Ergonomics
Using musculoskeletal models to estimate the effects of exoskeletons on spine loads during dynamic lifting tasks: differences between OpenSim and the AnyBody modelling system in Journal of Biomechanics
A new article A data-driven approach to classifying manual material handling tasks using markerless motion capture and recurrent neural networks was published in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics (May 2025).
Lingyu Li, an M.S. program student, successfully defended his thesis "Evaluating Model-Estimated Shoulder Muscle Activity During Overhead Work with Varied Task Demands and Exoskeleton Use." He will continue his academic journey in the PhD program in ISE at Virginia Tech. Congratulations, Lingyu!
(May 2025)
Wallace "Wally" Morris, a Ph.D. candidate, successfully defended his dissertation, "A Postural Exposure Assessment of Dental Health Professionals and the Effectiveness of Exoskeletons to Reduce Ergonomic Risk in Dentistry."
Congratulations, Wally! (May 2025)
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A new article Passive back support exoskeletons do not effectively reduce physical demands during simulated floor tiling was published in Applied Ergonomics (May 2025).
A new article Perspectives of Mining Personnel on Adopting Occupational Exoskeletons: Comparisons Between a Developed and a Developing Country was published in Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (April 2025).
Four (4) more new articles were published (March 2025):
Cognitive workload assessment during VR forklift training was published in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
Passive arm-support and back-support exoskeletons have distinct phase-dependent effects on physical demands during cart pushing and pulling: An exploratory study was published in Applied Ergonomics
Estimating dynamic external hand forces during overhead work with and without an exoskeleton: Evaluating an approach using electromyography signals and random forest regression was published in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
Understanding the drivers of and barriers to adopting passive back- and arm-support exoskeletons in construction: Results from interviews and short-term field testing was published in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics
A new article Gait variability predicts post-fatigue obstacle course performance among military cadets: An exploratory study was published in Applied Ergonomics (March 2025).
A new article Older workers spend less time in extreme trunk and upper-arm postures during order-picking tasks: Results from field testing was published in Applied Ergonomics (January 2025).
A new article Changes in forklift driving performance and postures among novices resulting from training using a high-fidelity virtual reality simulator: An exploratory study was published in Ergonomics (September 2024).
A new article Changes in forklift driving performance and postures among novices resulting from training using a high-fidelity virtual reality simulator: An exploratory study was published in Ergonomics (September 2024).
A new article Understanding contributing factors to exoskeleton use-intention in construction: A decision tree approach using results from an online survey was published in International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics (September 2024).
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Alex Noll, an M.S. program student, successfully defended his thesis titled "Quantifying the Reliability of Performance Time and User Perceptions Obtained from Passive Exoskeleton Evaluations." He will begin his career as an FTL (Future Technical Leaders) Systems Engineer at Northrop Grumman in Baltimore, MD. Congratulations, Alex!
(August 2024)
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A new article Shoulder kinematics during cyclic overhead work are affected by a passive arm support exoskeleton was published in Applied Ergonomics (July 2024).
A new article Evaluation of a passive arm-support exoskeleton for surgical team members: Results from live surgeries was published in Journal of Safety Research (June 2024).
A new article, Teleoperator-Robot-Human Interaction in Manufacturing: Perspectives from Industry, Robot Manufacturers, and Researchers, was published in IISE Transactions on Occupational Ergonomics and Human Factors (May 2024).
A Ph.D. candidate, Aanuoluwapo "Aanu" Ojelade, successfully defended his dissertation, Evaluation of Markerless Motion Capture to Assess Physical Exposures During Manual Material Handling Tasks. He started working as a Research Assistant Professor at University of Buffalo. Congrats, Aanu! (February 2024).
Go to Former Students page
My exoskeleton (EXO) effectiveness research was featured in Virginia Tech Video with my Ph.D. students, Ahmad Raza Usmani, Wally Morris, and Aanu Ojelade (October 2023).