Happy Halloween from the Shepherd Lab! 😛

Max K. Shepherd, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
m.shepherd@northeastern.edu
google scholar
CV

Graduate Students

Brittany Moores, MSPO, CPO

Brittany is a Board Certified Prosthetist Orthotist and PhD Candidate in the Human Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences program. Her current research is focused on clinical biomechanics, preference, and education with the goal of better understanding the relationship between patients and Certified Prosthetists.

Brittany received her Master of Science in Prosthetics and Orthotics from the University of Hartford. She completed her orthotics residency at Shirley Ryan Ability Lab and her prosthetics residency at a private clinic located in Alaska. She practiced clinically in Washington State and Alaska prior to moving to Boston.

Fatima Mumtaza Tourk

Fatima Tourk is an engineer pursuing her PhD in Mechanical Engineering. She is currently developing a hip exoskeleton. Leveraging robotics, anatomy, and engineering, Fatima is dedicated to improving the rehabilitation experience in healthcare to improve human health.

Prior to joining the lab, Fatima was a research assistant at the Harvard Medical School where she worked on a robotics project. She also received her B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the George Washington University where she led projects on soft actuated prosthetic fingers and robotic knee braces.

Divyansh Gupta

Divyansh is a master’s student in Robotics, who seeks to make an impact through research. He is currently working on the design and control of an ankle exoskeleton. Prior to his master’s, he worked as a Robotics Design engineer for OttonomyIO, an autonomous delivery robot startup and received his B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, India.  His research interests lie in control systems spanning the domain of wearable and legged robotics. Outside of academia, he enjoys Bouldering and Swimming. 

Personal Website – https://gupta-divy.github.io/

Kathryn Lee

Kathryn is a PhD student studying Mechanical Engineering. She is currently working on the design and control of a variable stiffness quasi-passive ankle prosthesis. Her research interests include innovating novel prostheses and utilizing user preference optimization strategies to ensure that users benefit from their devices. Prior to joining the lab, Kathryn was an undergraduate research assistant at Vanderbilt University, where she received her B.E. in Biomedical Engineering. Outside of the lab, she can be found listening to Taylor Swift, reading sci-fi books, and playing ultimate frisbee with friends.

Nathan Carmichael

Nathan is a PhD student in the Mechanical Engineering program with a concentration in Mechatronics. He is currently working on the design and control of a powered ankle prosthesis. Nathan’s research interests include mechanical design, biomechanics, and control systems. He is dedicated to designing powered prostheses that can be taken out of the clinic and adapted for everyday use.

Before joining the lab, he received his B.S. in Mechanical engineering from Case Western Reserve University where he developed amphibious legged robots. Outside of lab, Nathan enjoys building fine furniture, backpacking, and throwing pottery on the wheel.

Undergraduate Students

Mike Jurkiewicz

Nodoka Shibasaki

Mustafa Saleh

Richard Ukenna-Izuwa

Lab Alumni

Pavan Rathnakar Shetty

Pavan joined the lab in 2022 and earned his MS in Robotics in 2023.

Email: shetty.pa@northeastern.edu
GitHub: https://github.com/Pavan-r-shetty
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavan-r-shetty-3b0687127/

Rajani Tabor

Rajani interned in the lab in 2023 and is pursuing her BS in Electrical Engineering.