[last update: Jun 15, 2006]

Dr. Satoru Kawai was a visiting Professor from Tezukayama University, Nara, Japan. His research interest, at present, is in human perceptual system of heaviness and motor system of grasp and lifting movements. He often (1996~1997, 2003~2004, 2010~) visits our lab to achieve his bunch of exciting experiments using Virtual Hand Lab. Most of his recent articles have been produced from our lab. Please also visit http:// www. tezukayama-u.ac.jp

[last update: May 15, 2004]

Alex is currently working at Microsoft with the IE Test Team in Redmond, Washington after he completed his undergraduate study in Computing Science at SFU. During his time at school, he worked as a co-op research assistant in the lab full-time from Jan 2003 to Dec 2003 and remained part-time till now. He was involved with developing software to provide 3D graphics and haptics/force displays for the Virtual Hand Lab, conducting usability experiments, and writing up research papers for publications. Alex enjoys visual arts, computer graphics, and sports. Before he came to the lab, he worked in the Computer Graphics (Gruvi) Lab for a semester with the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award. Also, he was SFU's CSSA badminton club leader before he left school. Now, Alex still maintains this website and he cares and misses everyone and everything in the lab. (http://www.sfu.ca/hmsl/alexbk)

[last update: Jun 25, 2004]

Cheryl completed her B.Sc. degree in Computing Science in Apr 2004. She worked as a co-op research assistant in the lab full-time from May 2002 to Dec 2002 and remained part-time till Dec 2003. Her projects included software development for the Virtual Hand Lab. Her hobbies include snowboarding, listening to music, boxing and working out.

[last update: May 15, 2004]

Farah completed her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology in Apr 2003. She worked in the lab as a co-op research assistant for two semesters (Sep 2002 - Apr 2003).

[last update: May 15, 2004]

Kenji Amaya

Kenji Amaya was a Postdoctoral Fellow who worked on developing 3D
hand models in the lab. his research topics included developing video based motion capture systems using inverse analysis methods, numerical analysis of thermal resist enhanced optical lithography, optical computed tomograpy using FEM and inverse analysis methods and optimization design of a corrosion protection system using numerical analysis. He is now a faculty member in Tokyo.

Dr. Bertram is currently an Assistant Professor of
Kinesiology at University College of Fraser Valley, in Chilliwack, B.C. He completed his Ph.D. with Dr. Ron Marteniuk. The title of his doctoral dissertation was " Motor Control in Compound Movements Involving Prehension". Chris then held a post-doctorate fellowship at the Motor Control Laboratory at Arizona State University, where he researched co-ordination in the elderly and in Parkinson's patients. Prior to coming to SFU, Chris completed a Masters degree in Kinesiology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with Dr. Mark Guadagnoli. His thesis project was entitled "The relationship between chronic alcohol abuse and information processing ability in older adults". An addiction to nickel slot machines brought Chris to Vancouver in 1997.

Dr. Cao is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Adjunct Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Human Factors Program in Engineering at Tufts University in Medford, MA. Caroline completed her B.Sc. in Biochemistry, and her MSc. in Kinesiology at Simon Fraser University, under the supervision of Dr. MacKenzie, on "A preliminary analysis of laparoscopic surgery". She then completed her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto, under the supervision of Dr. Paul Milgram. We're trying to entice her back to Vancouver, because we miss her infectious laughter!

Hanjin completed his undergraduate degree in Engineering Science and previously worked in the lab as a co-op research assistant. He was involved with programming for the Virtual Hand Lab for Dr. Christine MacKenzie. Hanjin was also a member of of the Korean Campus Mission and played roller hockey in his spare time. Other interests included surfing the web, programming, and devloping and designing MEMS (micro-electronic mechanical systems) (http://www.sfu.ca/~hcho ).

[last update: May 31, 2006]

Alissa is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Italy, having completed her Ph.D. at the University of Bangor, Wales. She completed her M.Sc. in Kinesiology under the supervision of Dr. Ron Marteniuk. Alissa's research was based on the most recent neuropsychological findings about the brain structures involved in mental imagery and movement. She was using behavioural (interference) tasks to try and 'locate' which structures were activated when people used either internal or external visual imagery, in the form of mental practice, to learn motor tasks. She also looked into the feasibility of using transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG in her research.

After a decade of experience in business, Evan studied Computer Science at the University of Waterloo. Following his graduate studies in Engineering, he spent five years as Research Projects Manager for the Engineering Education Research Centre, focusing on the effective use of information technology in undergraduate education.

After moving to SFU, Evan completed doctoral studies with Dr. Christine MacKenzie in 1996, researching how the constraints of human-computer interaction and virtual environments affect planning and control of goal-directed hand movements. His thesis was entitled "Pointing on a Computer Display", based on research done in the early stages of the Virtual Hand Lab. He also participated in the Intelligent Graphics Interface project , and Remote Manipulation for Endoscopic Surgery studies.

From 1997 to 2000 he acted as Director of Technology for DSI Datotech Systems Inc. in Vancouver, and was the architect of the company's gesture input product prototypes. Evan is currently runs a consulting service (Usable Solutions Ltd.) specializing in product design and development for new human-machine interaction technology. He is also the founder and president of Human Interface Technologies Inc., a BC R&D company specializing in symbol recognition and authentication software for pen-based computing.

Gayle completed her B.Sc. in Kinesiology at Dalhousie University and her Master's thesis with Dr. Ron Marteniuk in the Human Motor Systems Lab. Her area of research was motor learning, where she worked under the umbrella of the specificity hypothesis. Her research centered on further studying specificity, and the influence of different sensory feedback modalities and presentation order of theses conditions on learning and subsequent motor performance.

[last update: Feb 19, 2004]

Majken came to SFU as an exchange student from Amsterdam, Holland and worked under the supervision of Dr. Ron Marteniuk. Here, she worked on her thesis, entitled "The Effects of Cadence (Step Frequency) and Task Complexity on Walking Characteristics during a Combined Locomotion Prehension Task". While in Canada, Majken also learned to play ice hockey and took up snowboarding.

Jennifer worked in the HMS Lab for several years, first as a co-op student, then as lab manager of the "Remote Manipulation in Laparoscopic Surgery" Project, funded by BCHRF (now the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research). She completed her M.Sc. in Human Kinetics, working with Dr. Romeo Chua at the University of British Columbia in the Perceptual Motor Dynamics Laboratory. After several years in Seattle, working as a Research Associate at the University of Washington, Jennifer and Jeff Brown moved in 2004 to Warsaw, Indiana.

Zaleena completed her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology and worked in HMSL for a year during her studies at SFU. She then pursued a second degree studying Occupational Therapy at the University of British Columbia. During her work in the lab, she was involved with research in Remote Manipulation in Endoscopic Surgery. Her other interests included instructing cardiac rehabilitation and fitness classes, hiking, travelling, and watching movies.

Alecia previously worked in the lab as a co-op research assistant for 2 semesters, involved in conducting experiments and analyzing data in the Virtual Hand Lab. Outside the lab, Alecia took part in Tae Kwon Do and was in Polynesian dancing. Other interests included swimming, rollerblading and volunteering at the S.P.C.A.

Elaine completed her B.Sc. in Kinesiology and completed two full-time co-operative work terms with Dr.MacKenzie. During that time, she contributed to research involving goal-directed hand movements in the Enhanced Virtual Hand Laboratory. After her work terms, Elaine traveled and did missions work in Australia. Elaine then worked at Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare (OHSAH) as an ergonomist.

Dawn completed two co-op education work terms in the HMSL lab with Dr. Marteniuk. She completed her B.Sc. honors in 2002, and her undergraduate thesis explored the effects of task goals on the movement characteristics of trunk-assisted prehension. After graduation she worked as an ergonomics research assistant with the Occupational Health and Safety Agency for Healthcare (OHSAH). Then she returned to SFU and completed her M.Sc. in Kinesiology in 2004, under the supervision of Dr. Steve Robinovitch. Her M.Sc. thesis examined the biomechanics of postural stability in the elderly. Dawn is currently a doctoral candidate in Epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, where she is working with Drs. Ira Tager and Steve Cummings.

Andrea completed her Ph.D. in the school of Kinesiology at SFU with Dr.Christine MacKenzie. The title of her doctoral dissertation was "Passing objects in physical and virtual environments: Analysis of collaborative movements using kinematic and force measures". She is currently holds a position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, http://www.soemadison.wisc.edu/kinesiology/index.html where she continues to study the role of sensory feedback on the performance of simple and collaborative manual movements in both natural and computer generated environments. Andrea can be reached by e-mail at amason@education.wisc.edu or by mail at 2000 Observatory Drive, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, 53706

Axel is currently full-time active as the principal designer/developer and as president of his company Infusion Systems Ltd. (http://www.infusionsystems.com ). He is continuing his work in the development of innovative gestural interfaces for control of multimedia content, which is more applied (and perhaps less technically challenging) than his PhD work. His webpage for past academic work is http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~amulder/personal/vmi Axel's personal web page is http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~amulder/personal/ If you would like to email him, please refer to his personal webpage.

In Sep 1991 - Aug 1992 Bert did an internship with Dr. Marteniuk during which he studied the coordination of prehension movements under the impact of different constraints. He also looked at the interjoint coordination and trunk involvement. He currently works at the Nijmegen Institue for Cognition and Information (University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, www.nici.kun.nl/ ) doing research on topics such as motor assessment, Cerebral palsy, spasticity and movement control, hand function, and tool use. Bert also works at the Werkenrode Foundation once a week ( www.werkenrode.nl/ ). Other links: www.nici.kun.nl/~steenbergen

Masuma completed her M.Sc. student under the supervision of Dr. Christine MacKenzie. She received her B.Sc. Specialization in Psychology from the University of Alberta in 1997. Her research interests include Human-Computer Interaction, Human Factors Psychology and Ergonomics. During her time at school, Masuma was the Kinesiology representative for the BC Advanced Systems Institute, an organization which linked graduate students to industry. She was also the Kinesiology Graduate Students' Association Vice-President and the Graduate Student Representative for the Association of Canadian Ergonomists BC chapter. Her other interests include music, art, and photography.

Masuma is currently working with Microsoft Research in their Product Usability Division. She loves living in Seattle!

Yanqing did his undergraduate studies in Naval Architecture at Dalian University of technology in China and then worked for ten years in the Chinese shipbuilding industry. Yanqing then went on to complete his Master's degree in Industrial Engineering at the Technical Institute of Nova Scotia in Halifax. He then completed his Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Christine MacKenzie. His Doctoral research focused on human-computer interaction technology, specifically multi-dimensional object manipulation in virtual environments.

Annalise worked in the lab as a research assistant. She was involved with various research projects in the lab. Outside the lab, Annalise was a member of the SFU Campus Crusade for Christ and plays soccer for the North Shore Rage. Other interests included hiking, camping, swimming and reading.

After several years as the research coordinator for the Occupational Lung Diseases Research Unit at UBC, Michelle returned to school and graduated with honours from the Computer Systems Technology Program at BCIT.   She was subsequently hired by The Active Network as a Software Consultant and has since moved into an Account Management role.   The Active Network is based in Burnaby, BC and works with cities and recreation departments to automate their processes and improve operational efficiencies.