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University of Houston Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Jose Luis "Pepe" Contreras-Vidal is partnering with NASA to develop robotic exoskeletons that can assist rehabilitation for patients grappling with stroke, Parkinson's and other conditions.

Undergrads discuss why they chose the University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering: unique research opportunities, fun and dynamic campus life, connections to industry, and faculty who care about your success.

Professional dancers are working with researchers from the University of Houston and the University of Maryland, College Park inside UH's Brain-Machine Interface Systems Laboratory to study brainwave patterns and transform them into tools to give new life to people with physical challenges, like spinal cord injuries. The project is the result of a unique, creative collaboration between UH electrical and computer engineering professor Jose Luis Contreras-Vidal and UMCP theatre, dance and performance professor Karen Bradley.

Steve Holbert was paralyzed in a dirt bike accident in late 2009. “I broke five vertebrae and injured my spinal cord and have been paralyzed ever since,” said Holbert. His hope is to completely recover from his spinal cord injury and one day walk again. That’s why he’s agreed to participate in the research of Jose Luis “Pepe” Contreras-Vidal, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston’s Cullen College of Engineering and director of the Laboratory for Non-invasive Brain-Machine Interface Systems. Contreras-Vidal is working on a brain-machine interface (BMI) that would allow patients like Holbert to control prosthetic limbs through their own thoughts. Holbert’s is testing a self-balancing lower limb exoskeleton.