Research Interests

I am interested in developing assistive devices, both to augment human performance in healthy individuals, as well as to train or compensate for deficits in impaired individuals. My thesis focuses on a new type of control for ankle-foot prostheses in which transtibial amputees are given autonomy and feedback from their robotic prosthetic ankle.

Publications and Presentations

Welker CG, Chiu VL, Voloshina AS, Collins SH, Okamura AM. 2020. Teleoperation of an Ankle-Foot Prosthesis with a Wrist Exoskeleton. bioRxiv (pre-print). PDF File.

Simpson CS, Welker CG, Uhlrich S, Sketch S, Jackson R, Delp S, Collins S, Selinger J, Hawkes E. 2018. Connecting the legs with a spring improves running economy. Journal of Experimental Biology, In Press. PDF File. 
(Featured on September JEB Cover, Inside JEB, and Finalist for JEB Best Paper Award)

Welker CG, Simpson CS, Hawkes EW. 2017. Simulation of a Passive Assistive Device to Reduce Running Effort. Proceedings of the International Society of Biomechanics. Brisbane, Australia. PDF File.
(David Winter Best Poster Award Finalist)

Degrees

M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, 2017
B.S. in Bioengineering and Chemical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, 2014

Honors and Awards

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, 2017
Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) – STEM Fellow, 2016