Congratulations to Ph.D. student Walter “Sebastian” Barrutia, who was awarded a Fellowship from the NIH T32 Neuromuscular Plasticity Program (NMPT). Barrutia studies under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Ferris in the Human Neuromechanics Laboratory.

Barrutia is developing passive-elastic knee exoskeletons for gait augmentation and assistance. He has developed novel methods of testing and validating knee exoskeletons. He will quantify the effects of exoskeleton usage on muscle usage and the metabolic cost of walking on children with cerebral palsy. This work has the potential to increase the quality of life of people with neuromuscular disorders and injuries such as cerebral palsy.