Student Research and Creative Activity Fair Awards
Two students at the NBCF, Daniel Leib and Alek Diffendaffer received recognition for their presentations at the Student Research and Creative Activity Fair. Daniel was awarded for Meritorious Graduate Oral Presentation/Performance, and Alek for Meritorious Graduate Poster. Congratulations guys!

NRI Grant
A two-year, $100,000 grant entitled "Portable gait variability device for clinical assessment utilizing a smartphone interface" was just awarded to Dr. Sara Myers by the Nebraska Research Initiative. This grant will establish the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of a new, clinically friendly, portable, inexpensive joint angle measuring device interfaced with a smartphone application. The grant will begin on July 1, 2013.

American Society of Biomechanics Conference Update
The Nebraska Biomechanics Core Facility has submitted grants to the National Institutes of Health, Department of Defense, and NASA Nebraska Space Grant and EPSCoR to help fund the upcoming American Society of Biomechanics Conference. The funding requested will help pay for student registration, flash drives to distribute the conference program, and possibly rental facilities for the conference. ASB 2013 will take place at CenturyLink in Downtown Omaha. Check our website here: NBCF ASB Websitefor more details!

Carlee Howe has been accepted to Creighton University's Doctor of Occupational Therapy program!
Carlee Howe, long-time student worker at the NBCF, has been accepted to Creighton's Doctor of Physical Therapy program! Congratulations Carlee! For more information about the program, check out their website here: Creighton Doctor of Occupational Therapy Program

Dr. Myers speaks for the Rotary Club of Omaha Suburban
Thursday, February 7th, Dr. Myers was the speaker for the Rotary Club of Omaha Suburban. Rotary International is an organization with the main objective of service - in the community, in the workplace, and around the globe. Dr. Myers presented an overview of the ongoing research in the NBCF, examples of research outcomes in some specific projects, and discussed how the Biomechanics Research Building will impact the NBCF.

Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research
Dr. Sara Myers attended the Training in Grantsmanship for Rehabilitation Research workshop January 15-19th in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The workshop pairs senior faculty mentors with junior faculty, as the junior faculty work to complete a grant proposal for submission to the NIH or other funding agency. Dr. Myers was selected to attend the workshop through a competitive application process. The leadership team for the workshop consists of Dr. Richard Segal, PT, PhD, FAPTA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Daniel Corcos, PhD, University of Illinois- Chicago, and W. Zev Rymer, MD, PhD, Research Institute of Chicago.

UCRCA
Sara Myers received a $4500 summer fellowship to complete the research project “The relationship between ambulatory activity patterns and gait variability”. The goal of this project is to capture gait variability patterns over a longer period, so that the data is more representative of typical daily life performance than the few minutes of data that can be collected in the laboratory setting. Preliminary data from this study was used for a recent presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics in Gainesville,Florida.

FIRE
Sara Myers and Nick Stergiou were the recipients of a collaborative grant from the Fund for Investing in the Research Enterprise for their project “Effects of blood flow on dynamics of the neuromuscular system”. The amount of funding is $35,000 and the research will be completed this academic year. The overall goal of this research is to determine how reduced blood flow impacts variability of muscle activation and movement profiles. Reduced blood flow will be induced in healthy older adults and monitored using a muscle tissue oximeter. The natural effect of reduced blood flow will be determined by investigating patients with peripheral arterial disease, who have blockages in the arteries of the legs, which results in abnormal lower extremity blood flow. Results of this study will be utilized to better understand mechanisms contributing to variability in biological signals, and hopefully to improve treatment of diseases arising from inadequate blood flow.

NONLINEAR DYNAMICS WORKSHOP
Sara Myers and Jennifer Yentes attended the American Psychological Association’s Advanced Training Institute on Nonlinear Methods for Psychological Science June 18-22 nd, 2012 in Cincinnati, OH. This weeklong course addressed methods from nonlinear dynamics and complexity theory. A particular focus of the workshop was on quantitative recurrence analysis and cross-recurrence analysis.

VA Merit Award
The Veterans’ Affairs Nebraska Western Iowa Health Care System and the University of Nebraska at Omaha have received a grant for $807,541 to study gait after two different surgical interventions in patients with peripheral arterial disease over the next four years. Sara Myers is the UNO PI, while Dr. Jason Johanning is the VA PI for the project. UNO will perform the biomechanical gait analyses prior to surgical intervention and at three, six, and 12 months following the intervention. Gait analyses will determine how lower extremity function and quality of life change with restoration of blood flow. Additionally, this research will determine which of the two commonly used revascularization procedures, endovascular (stenting) and open bypass, is most effective in restoring lower extremity function. Limb ischemia from peripheral arterial disease is the most common disorder treated within the surgical service at the Omaha VA Medical Center and procedures for treatment of limb ischemia account for one-third of the operations performed nationwide at the VA.

Dr. Sara Myers and Jenna Yentes attend a nonlinear course in Cincinnati
In June, Sara and Jenna traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio to learn about Recurrence Quantification Analysis or simply RQA. This nonlinear mathematical technique can be used to identify patterns and repeatability in people's movements. This five day course was taught by the Department of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. Many lectures, hands on activities and social events filled their week. They hope to use these new tools in their research here at UNO. This link is photos from the conference: Here is the link.

Troy received a GRACA award.
Troy received a $5000 grant from Graduate Research and Creative Activity to perform his research titled "Investigation into the sensitivity of center of pressure to determine fall risk in the elderly." Troy is working with elderly participants and measuring their center of pressure while they stand on a force platform. He hopes to find nontraditional measures that could indicate fall risk and eventually develop an early detection system for fall-risk.