Rory A. Cooper

Rory A. Cooper is an American bioengineer who currently serves as FISA/PVA Distinguished Professor, Past Chair, in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology and professor of Bioengineering, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh.[1][2][3] He is also Associate Dean for Inclusion in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.[4] He holds an Adjunct Faculty position at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, and is an Invited Professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, China.[5][6]

Rory A. Cooper
Rory A. Cooper with robotic arm
Born (1959-11-09) November 9, 1959
Los Angeles, California
NationalityUnited States
Alma materCalifornia Polytechnic State University
OccupationProfessor, Inventor
Years active1989–present
EmployerUniversity of Pittsburgh
United States Department of Veterans Affairs
TitleFISA/PVA Distinguished Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology, University of Pittsburgh
Associate Dean for Inclusion in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Pittsburgh
Founder and Director, Human Engineering Research Laboratories

He is the founder and director of the Human Engineering Research Laboratories.[7]

Early life

In December 1972, Cooper became an Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America).[8] He was profiled in the Winter 2019 issue of Eagles' Call magazine.[9]

Cooper enlisted in the United States Army in 1976 and was assigned to the 3rd Ordnance Battalion, 32nd Air Defense Artillery Command with U.S. Army Europe and was later attached to the 5th Signal Command, USAREUR, and the U.S. Military Community Activity Worms, 21st Support Command.[10]

While stationed in Germany in 1980, he was hit by a bus while riding a bicycle. As a result, he became paralyzed from the waist down.[11]

Cooper received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 1985 and an electrical engineering M.Eng from Cal Poly in 1986.[12] He received the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering with a concentration in bioengineering from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1989.[13]

Career

From 1989 to 1994, Cooper was an assistant professor in Bioengineering at Sacramento State University.[14][15] In 1994, Cooper became an Associate Professor at the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh (obtaining full professorship in 1998).[16] Also in 1994, he founded the Human Engineering Research Laboratories, which includes the VA Center for Wheelchairs and Associated Rehabilitation Engineering.[17][18] He served as Chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Science and Technology at the University of Pittsburgh from 1997 to 2018.[19]

He is also a Senior Research Career Scientist with the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.[20]

Cooper has published almost 300 peer-reviewed journal articles.[21][22][23] He is the author of Rehabilitation Engineering Applied to Mobility and Manipulation[24] and Wheelchair Selection and Configuration[25] and co-edited An Introduction to Rehabilitation Engineering,[26] Care of the Combat Amputee,[27] Warrior Transition Leader: Medical Rehabilitation Handbook.,[28] and Promoting Successful Reintegration.[29]

Cooper has been a National Academies of Sciences Distinctive Voices Lecturer, ACC Distinguished Lecturer, Smithsonian Institution ADA 25th Anniversary Festival Speaker, Young Lecturer at the Royal Military College of Canada, and inaugural AAAS-Lemelson Foundation Invention Ambassador. He has also been elected to Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi honorary societies. Cooper is a former President of RESNA, and a member of the IEEE-EMBS Medical Device Standards Committee. Additionally, he has been a member of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – Medicare Advisory Committee, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Prosthetics and Special Disability Programs Advisory Committee, Chair of the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research, National Institute of Child Health & Human Development, U.S. Department of Defense Health Board Subcommittee on Amputation and Orthopedics, Board of Directors of Easter Seals, National Academy of Medicine Committee on Assistive Products and Devices, and National Academy of Sciences Keck Foundation Initiative on Human Health Span Steering Committee.[30]

He is the director of the Paralyzed Veterans of America Research Foundation, and currently serves as a member of the Honorary Board of Advisors of the Student Veterans of America, Chair of the Honorary Board of Advisors of the Disabled Veterans National Foundation, National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for Education and Human Resources, Command Council of the Staff Sergeant Donnie D. Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Community Services, and World Health Organization GATE Committee.[31]

In 2014, Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh appointed Cooper a Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army.[32]

Inventions and patents

Cooper holds 25 patents in wheelchair technology.[33] He is the inventor of many advanced mobility devices and assistive technologies. Among these are MEBot, a stair-climbing wheelchair;[34] PneuChair, a wheelchair powered entirely by compressed air;[35] and Virtual Seating Coach, a smartphone app to control power wheelchair seating systems.[36][37]

The July 26, 2010 issue of Popular Science profiled Cooper, and a photo of him with a robotic wheelchair he invented was the issue's centerfold.[38] Cooper and his inventions were also the cover story of the May 2017 issue of New Mobility.[39] Additionally, Cooper was featured as the cover story of the September 2019 issue of Inventors Digest.[40]

Athletics

At the 1988 Paralympic Games in Seoul, South Korea, Cooper received a Bronze Medal in the 4x400-meter wheelchair relay.[41]

Cooper was on the steering committee for the 1996 Paralympic Scientific Congress held in Atlanta, GA, and was the Sports Scientist for the 2008 U.S. Paralympic Team in Beijing, China.[42] He also received the 2013 International Paralympic Scientific Achievement Award.[43] He volunteered his expertise as a member of the US Paralympic staff in 1992, 1996, and 2008.[44]

Cooper served as the Chair of the Local Organizing Committee for the National Veterans Wheelchair Games held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1998 and 2011.

Cooper has been a competitor in the National Veterans Wheelchair Game since 1983 winning over 200 medals in total in such sports a slalom, track, swimming, table-tennis, and hand-cycle.

At the 32nd National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG) concluded on June 30, 2012 Richmond, Virginia,[45] Cooper earned 5 gold medals in swimming.[46]

Cooper is an accomplished handcyclist and competes annually in the Pittsburgh Marathon.[47]

Recognition and awards

Cooper is an elected Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the Biomedical Engineering Society.[48][49][50][51][52][53]

Cooper has received many honors; among the most recent are a 2017 Fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science for engineering,[54] recipient of one of the 2017 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals,[55] recognition as a "Health Hero" in Oprah Magazine,[56] and the 2016 Marlin Mickle Outstanding Innovator Award.[57]

Other awards Cooper has received include the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, National Guard Bureau Minute Man Award, AAAS Mentor Award, Joseph F. Engelberger Award, AIMBE Advocacy Award, Herny Viscardi Achievement Award, U.S. Army Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Diversity and Inclusion Excellence Award, Olin E. Teague Award, membership in the Pennsylvania Military and Veteran Hall of Fame, Order of Military Medical Merit, Order of Mercury, Order of Saint Maurice, Chapel of Four Chaplains Legion of Honor, DaVinci Lifetime Achievement Award, and the inaugural class of the Spinal Cord Injury Hall of Fame.[58]

In 2009, Cooper was featured on a special edition Cheerios cereal box to celebrate his accomplishments.[59]

In appreciation of his work and accomplishments, the Pittsburgh City Council proclaimed June 17, 2014, as "Dr. Rory A. Cooper Day."[60]

In 2019, the United States Patent and Trademark Office added Cooper to the Inventor Collectible Card Series.[61]

gollark: Which I guess would come under "more computing resources". But anyway.
gollark: Anyway, I *did* have an idea to make the AI work better without substantially more computing resources or accursed neural network™ things.
gollark: I don't know, consideration is your problem.
gollark: Well, I would actually need more money than that to get more GPU compute.
gollark: Consider the following.

References
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  2. "Rory Cooper". engineering.pitt.edu. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  3. "Rory Cooper, PhD". McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  4. "Rory Cooper". SHRS. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  5. "Rory Cooper". www.ri.cmu.edu. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  6. "西安交通大学教师个人主页 - Academic Exchanges". Xi'an Jiaotong University Academic Communications. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  7. "Rory A. Cooper". herl.pitt.edu. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  8. "Dr. Rory Cooper: The Innovative Engineer". army.mil. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
  9. Freeman, Michael (Winter 2019). "Revolutionizing Mobility". Eagles' Call. Boy Scouts of America.
  10. "VA Researchers Who Served: Dr. Rory Cooper". va.gov. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  11. "A Wheelchair 'Revolution'". post-gazette.com. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  12. "Rory A. Cooper". herl.pitt.edu. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  13. "Rory A. Cooper". herl.pitt.edu. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
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  15. "The Continuing Accomplishments of Rory Cooper". California State University, Sacramento. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
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  35. "New Waterproof Wheelchair is Powered Entirely by Compressed Air". R&D. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
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  37. "Virtual Seating Coach". Permobil, Inc. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  38. "Rise of the Helpful Machines". Popular Science. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  39. "Rory Cooper: The Man Behind the Technology". New Mobility. Retrieved September 20, 2019.
  40. "Past Issues of Inventors Digest". Inventors Digest. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
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  44. Warrior Transition Leader Medical Rehabilitation Handbook (First ed.). Ft. Detrick MD: United States Department of Defense, Defense Dept, Borden Institute. October 2011. p. 208. ISBN 9780160893667.
  45. "National Veterans Wheelchair Games". wheelchairgames.org. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  46. "Pittsburgh Area Veterans Bring Home Gold, Silver and Bronze". Public Affairs Office of VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
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  56. "11 Everyday Heroes Who Bring Healthcare to Those in Need". oprah.com. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
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