Team

Dr. Kat M. Steele, is the Albert S. Kobayashi Endowed Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington. She leads the Ability & Innovation Lab, which integrates dynamic musculoskeletal simulation, motion analysis, medical imaging, and device design to understand and support human mobility (steelelab.me.uw.edu). She earned her BS in Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. To integrate engineering and medicine, she has worked in multiple hospitals including the Denver Children’s Hospital, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. For her research and innovations, she has been awarded a Career Development Award in Rehabilitation Engineering from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation CAREER Early Faculty Development Award, and the American Society of Biomechanics Young Scientist Award. In 2020, she co-founded and serves as Associate Director of CREATE (create.uw.edu), the Center for Research & Education on Accessible Technology & Experiences with partners from industry and academia in engineering, rehabilitation medicine, disability studies and information sciences. She is also the co-founder of AccessEngineering (uw.edu/doit/accessing), an NSF-supported program that supports individuals with disabilities to pursue careers in engineering and trains all engineers in principles of universal design and ability-based design to create more inclusive products, environments, and experiences. Learn more at Steele Lab

Dr. Murray Maitland is a physical therapist and associate professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Division of Physical Therapy. Learn more at Faculty Profile

Chet Moritz is the Hwang Endowed Professor in the department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, with joint appointments in Rehabilitation Medicine and Physiology & Biophysics. He was named an Allen Distinguished Investigator and appointed to the Christopher & Dana Reeve International Consortium on Spinal Cord Repair. Chet serves as the Co-Director for the Center for Neurotechnology, a former NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC). Chet directs the Restorative Technologies Laboratory (RTL) which focuses on developing technologies to treat paralysis due to spinal cord injury. Current research in the lab includes a multi-site clinical trial of spinal stimulation to restore hand function for people with spinal cord injury, stimulation to improve walking for children with cerebral palsy, and optogenetic stimulation to guide neuroplasticity and recovery in the injured spinal cord of animals. Learn more at Restorative Technologies Laboratory