Mechanical engineering professor Dr. The “Leo” Nguyen crouches down toward the floor of his testing facility trying to get a good look at the trembling hand of Winston Field, a 78-year-old man with Parkinson’s who is part of a trial study for the professor’s new invention.
Nguyen rests his chin between his thumb and index finger, eyes fixated on his subject’s hand and the intricacies of each involuntary movement shaking right to left, going up and down, faster then slower.
The Lyles College of Engineering professor at Fresno State is collecting observational data that he and a graduate student will take back to the lab and use to refine the tremor-suppression device he’s created. They follow this process week after week with patient after patient, and will do so until they get it just right.
After years of work in machine design and dynamics, Nguyen decided it was time to use his skills to help people. He spent some time in medical engineering, working to improve the design of leg prosthetics to reduce the cost so people without insurance can afford it.
Now, in between teaching classes, he’s working on the research and development of hand and arm devices with graduate student Sreekanth Rudraraju.
“With my expertise, I said, ‘OK, why not do this?’ I already work on vibrating machines and structures,” Nguyen says. “Human arms would be much more complex, but let’s give it a try.”
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