As my time as Awards Chair winds down, I’m excited to share the winners and finalists for ASB Awards and Grants, many of whom will be highlighted in the various Awards Sessions at the upcoming annual meeting in Pittsburgh, PA this August. I’d also like to acknowledge the significant increase in award and grant applications in 2025 (48 applications, up from 35 in 2024). We also nearly doubled the number of graduate students applying for the Three-Minute Thesis competition. I’ve enjoyed learning about the exciting biomechanics research conducted by members of our society, and I wish we could do even more to acknowledge all this fantastic work.
The Awards Committee will be in excellent hands next year with Erin Mannen. Thank you to the wonderful ASB Awards Committee, including Josh Baxter, Brian Davis, Max Diaz, Virginia Liang, Kathleen Madara, Matty Major, Erin Mannen, Kota Takahashi, and Francesca Wade, for managing all the ASB awards and grants over the past few months. I’m proud of the work of this committee and the nearly 60 ASB members who took time in March and April to review these applications.
Please keep an eye out for communications from Erin in the fall regarding the ASB Awards Committee and upcoming Awards Deadlines for the 2026 World Congress of Biomechanics meeting, as announced through our monthly ASB e-blasts. Please anticipate ASB Award and Grant deadlines will be earlier in 2026 than this year to accommodate this large, international gathering.
The ASB Award winners (with brief descriptions) and finalists that will present at the meeting are highlighted below; please visit the ASB website for more details on each winner.
Thursday, August 14th
13:45-14:45
ASB Early Career, Pre-Doctoral, and Up and Comer Plenary Session:
Scott Uhlrich, University of Utah (Early Career Achievement Award)
Dr. Uhlrich directs the Movement Bioengineering Lab at the University of Utah, where he is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Orthopaedic Surgery. His research aims to improve human mobility using scalable digital health technology. His work leverages computational biomechanics, machine learning, mobile sensing, and imaging with applications in osteoarthritis, neuromuscular diseases, and aging.
Soyong Shin, Carnegie Mellon University (Pre-Doctoral Achievement Award)
Soyong Shin is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), where he works with Dr. Eni Halilaj. His research focuses on developing new open-source markerless motion tracking methods that use AI to harness information from emerging technologies, such as smartphone cameras and/or inertial sensors. Among others, these include WHAM, which leverages a single moving camera, and DeepGaitLab, a multi-view motion capture system that will be introduced at ASB 2025.
Caitlin Banks, Kennedy Krieger Institute (2024 Up and Comer Award)
Caitlin Banks, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral researcher at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, USA. Her research focuses on walking, lower extremity function, and health disparities in people with stroke.
Kinyata Cooper, University of Florida (2024 Up and Comer Award)
Kinyata Cooper, Ph.D. is a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Florida. Her work focuses on optimizing human performance and analyzing return-to-sport/activity outcomes in patients with musculoskeletal injuries to enhance rehabilitation efficacy.
13:45-14:45
Three Minute Thesis Competition Session:
Finalists
Haley Hentnik, Clemson University
Sarah Griffin, University of Pittsburgh
Jenna Cohen, University of Vermont
Omik Save, Arizona State University
Maxine He, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Gabriela Bertozzi De Carvalho, NJIT
Samuel Hopkins, Northern Arizona University
Justin Dennis, UNC Chapel Hill
Gaspard Diotalevi, Université de Sherbrooke
Tyler Wiles, University of Nebraska Omaha
Friday, August 15th
12:45 – 14:15
ASB Goel, Pytel, Founders’ Award Session:
Josh Caputo, Humotech (Goel Award for Translational Research in Biomechanics)
Josh Caputo, Ph.D., is the President & CEO of Humotech, a company he spun out of Carnegie Mellon University in 2015 to provide the world’s first hardware/software platform that supports researchers and developers pursuing innovations in prosthetics & orthotics, exoskeleton technology, and other wearable machines. Dr. Caputo’s driving passion is to help realize a world where everyone can access the devices they need to lead happier, healthier, and more productive lives.
Brooke Odle, Hope University (Jean Landa Pytel Award for Diversity Mentorship in Biomechanics Award)
Dr. Brooke Odle is a biomedical engineer who specializes in rehabilitation and biomechanics. She joined Hope College in 2019, where she teaches, advises, and leads interdisciplinary research on human movement and injury prevention—particularly focusing on reducing musculoskeletal injuries in nursing students. As a Christian servant-leader and a Black woman with Puerto Rican roots, she mentors students from historically marginalized backgrounds. She actively supports diversity, equity, justice, and inclusion in her field and community.
Peter Adamczyk, University of Wisconsin-Madison (Founders’ Award)
Dr. Adamczyk is the Mead Witter Foundation Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and directs the Biomechatronics, Assistive Devices, Gait Engineering and Rehabilitation (UW BADGER) Laboratory. Dr. Adamczyk’s research aims to enhance physical and functional recovery from impairments affecting walking, running, and standing. Core foci include basic research on locomotion biomechanics; design of semi-active foot prostheses for gait restoration after amputation; wearable sensors for movement assessment during real-life activities; and rehabilitation robotics to explore motor learning and neural adaptation in the lower limb.
14:30 – 16:00
Journal Awards Presentations
Journal of Biomechanics Award Finalists
Isolated plantar flexor stimulation exposes Achilles subtendon sliding
Kathryn S. Strand, Todd J. Hullfish, Maggie M. Wagner, Josh R. Baxter
University of Pennsylvania
The Effect of Carbon Fiber Insoles on Foot-Ankle Mechanical Leverage and Vulnerability to Walking Balance Perturbations
Aubrey J. Gray, Kabir Dewan, Kota Z. Takahashi, Jason R. Franz
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University
Locomotor adaptation control shifts from the brain to the spinal cord with practice
Nikhil Madaka, Shuqi Liu, Nathan W. Brantly, Ted Huppert, Douglas J. Weber, Hartmut Geyer, Gelsy Torres-Oviedo
University of Pittsburgh
Clinical Biomechanics Award Finalists
Reconstruction of articular joints using implanted compliant mechanisms
Brandon T. Peterson, Jonathan B. Hopkins, Nelson F. SooHoo, Tyler R. Clites
University of California, Los Angeles
The effect of optical flow perturbations on walking foot placement control in people with multiple sclerosis
Kavya Katugam-Dechene, Irena Dujmovic Basuroski, Brian P. Selgrade, Jacob J. Sosnoff, Jason R. Franz
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University
Limb lengthening: slower distraction rates may improve joint recovery
Hui Tang, John A. Heydemann, Niamh McMahon, Kathleen Rickert, Kevin McHorse, Owen N. Beck
University of Texas at Austin
Saturday, August 16th
10:15-11:15
Borelli Award Lecture:
Darryl Thelen, University of Michigan
Darryl Thelen, Ph.D., is this year’s recipient of the most prestigious honor given by the ASB, recognizing his outstanding career accomplishments and exemplary research in biomechanics. Dr. Thelen is the John Bollinger Chair and the Bernard A. and Frances M. Weideman Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he also serves as Chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Thelen directs the UW Neuromuscular Biomechanics Lab, where he leads the development of computational models, wearable sensors, and dynamic imaging technologies to investigate the functional loading of musculoskeletal tissues. His work focuses on understanding the biomechanics and neuromuscular coordination of human movement, with the goal of informing and improving clinical practices in orthopedics, rehabilitation, and sports medicine.
12:45-14:15
Hay Award Symposium:
Jeff Crandall, Biocore LLC
(with supporting talks from Kristy Arbogast, Maede Spratley, and Brody Hicks)
Jeff Crandall, Ph.D., is co-founder and CEO of Biomechanics Consulting and Research (Biocore), LLC and Board Member of Infinite Athlete, Inc. He is the Nancy and Neal Wade Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences (Emeritus) at the University of Virginia and was the director of the UVA Center for Applied Biomechanics from 1994 until he retired from the University in 2019. Dr. Crandall’s research has focused on understanding human response and injury with application to the fields of sports and automobile safety.
The Hay Award Symposium this year will provide an overview of Dr. Crandall’s breadth and depth of work in injury and sports biomechanics, with supporting talks related to head injury biomechanics and player protection; player perception, injury, and performance driving shoe-surface evaluations, and player screening and motion biomechanics across sports.
Finally, I’d like to highlight winners of some of the 2025 competitive grants who you can look forward to presenting at future ASB meetings! (For the graduate student research grants, see the Education Chair’s section.)
2025 Up and Comer Award Winners:
Maria Ramos Gonzalez, Postdoc, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dr. Maria Ramos Gonzalez is a Distinguished Postdoctoral Research Fellow whose multidisciplinary research covers human-in-the-loop for robotic manipulation tasks and neuroprosthetic feedback control paradigms for upper limb amputees.
Hannah Houde, Postdoc, University of Texas Medical Branch
Dr. Hannah Houde is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch, where she works with Dr. Melissa Morrow to investigate shoulder health and movement patterns in manual wheelchair users, focusing on how daily life demands contribute to shoulder tendon injury.
Gauri Desai, Postdoc, University of Maryland, College Park
Dr. Gauri Desai is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Maryland, College Park, in the Department of Kinesiology’s Neuromechanics Core. Dr. Desai’s current research focuses on two main areas: (1) uncovering running-related injury risk factors, with a focus on women-specific biomechanical and endocrinological factors, and (2) complementing experimental methodology with optimal control simulations to examine the energetic and biomechanical consequences of clinical conditions like lower limb amputations.
Lucinda Williamson, Postdoc, University of Illinois Chicago
Dr. Lucinda Williamson is a Bridge-to-Faculty Postdoctoral Scholar in the Richard and Loan Hill Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago and a Visiting Scholar at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s Center for Bionic Medicine. Their research in translational biomechanics integrates experimental and computational approaches to understand human movement, with a focus on injury prevention, training load management, and return-to-play in sport.
2025 ASB Junior Faculty Research Award:
Ying Fang, Rosalind Franklin University
Dr. Ying Fang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at Rosalind Franklin University. Dr. Fang’s current research focuses on developing and implementing novel rehabilitation interventions, such as biofeedback, to improve gait and function of people with neurological disorders. With the support from the ASB Junior Faculty Research Award, she will develop a new line of research that combines biomechanics and psychology to understand the physical and mental aspects of fall prevention.